Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews

I know, I haven't been keep you all abreast of my reading habits. I've been putting a lot more energy lately into my primary blog, Faith + Knowledge. So, rather than making a potentially empty promise of trying to update this blog more, I'll just recommend that if you want a more comprehensive look at my recent and current reads, check out my profile at Goodreads. And if you're on Goodreads, friend me and I'd love to see what you're reading. If you're not on Goodreads, just get on already.

I will still update this blog occasionally when I feel compelled to say something substantial, such as is the case with this book:

A good history book is a lot like reading fiction that actually happened. The fact that Chaim Potok was primarily a novelist makes Wanderings a highly compelling, true narrative centered on the origins, trials, successes, and adventures of, arguably, the most unique people group in human history.

Along the journey, Potok paints in broad strokes the basic outline of Western Civ. 101. You start in ancient Mesopotamia before traveling with Abraham to Palestine. You follow Moses out of Egypt. You join the Israelites as they establish the Davidic dynasty, and you stay with them as the bear defeat and oppression from Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.

You watch a sect of Jews start to follow a self-proclaimed Messiah named Jesus. You witness that sect becoming a dominant, worldwide religious force, and you see the corrupting influence of power as these Jesus followers take hold of the empire. It is a turn of events that results in recurring tragedy for the Jews who gave birth to Christianity's object of worship.

You see a rival monotheism develop from the teachings and experiences of an Arab named Mohammed, and the often tumultuous (but also oscillating) relationship among these three Abrahamic faiths.

You see the hopes of a nation rise at the leading of would-be Messiahs, then persevere and adapt after disappointment.

You see different regions of Jewish populations develop into different branches of Judaic religion and life. Some assimilate into their environments more than others, yet they all seem to retain something distinctly Jewish.

And surprisingly, little is said about 20th century Germany, World Wars, Holocaust, gas chambers, Hitler, etc. I can only guess that either Potok assumed his readers knew enough, or that at the time he was writing (late 70's), it was still too fresh to talk about objectively. But I must admit that by the time I got to this point in the story, the Holocaust is, tragically, less shocking. It's another act of superstitious, senseless persecution of a long line of reoccurring acts of superstitious, senseless persecutions.

I highly recommend this book. You will learn even more than you would expect to learn from a 500-page history book, and you will be engaged throughout most of those 500 pages. If you find the first few chapters a bit dry, just push through them. You will quickly be drawn in by Potok's seamless prose.

Binge Reading

It is apparently becoming a trend for me to not post anything for awhile and then give you several reviews at once. Doesn't surprise me though, as it tends to reflect my reading habits. I'll do some binge reading, which will often be followed by a week or two of relative literary sobriety. (For an informative exposition of the addiction of binge reading, check out this great post by Corrine Jackson.)

Anywho, it is now with great excitement that I give you not one, not two, but THREE reviews! What's more is, these are three most excellent books. I give them each 5 stars. That's a total of 15 stars in one post, a veritable constellation!

The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene



This was the first book I had read by Greene, who was unknown to me previously but is apparently a fairly revered Modern novelist. This particular book was given a spot on TIME's list of 100 best English-language novels, 1923 - present.

If you decide to read this, it will help to do a little research about the context before beginning. I must ashamedly confess ignorance about 20th-century Mexican history, which is unfortunate, considering we're talking about a time not even 50 years before my birth, and a place just a few hundred miles southwest of my hometown in south Louisiana.

The Power and the Glory follows the adventures of a Mexican priest, at a time when the Mexican state has essentially "excommunicated" the Church. His story reads somewhat like the stations of the Passion, even though he has in many ways fallen from grace. He has become a drunkard and has fathered a child in an apparent one night stand. In spite of himself, he is an incredibly admirable figure, who courageously continues to fulfill his priestly duties, in spite of the persecution from the state and of his own inward struggles, and the torturous guilt that confronts him at every point. In the midst of such dire circumstances and seeming hopelessness, the priest's story is one of great beauty and powerful redemption.

Is God to Blame? Moving Beyond Pat Answers to the Problem of Evil by Gregory A. Boyd



The "Problem of Evil" is a theological conundrum which is surely as old as religious thought itself. It's a huge problem for Christianity, which asserts that God is both all-powerful and all-good. Anyone who does any serious thinking about God has to deal with this dilemma, and I believe that we would all do well to read this book, as Boyd tackles the issue in a way that is both logically satisfying and spiritually reassuring. As for how accurate his theology is, you can be the judge of that, but I say that it makes more sense than anything else I've read on the topic. Even the venerable C. S. Lewis, who gave his take on the issue in his book The Problem of Pain, doesn't handle it with the kind of thoroughness that Boyd does.

Even if you don't end up fully agreeing with Boyd, reading this book will help you to confront many common assumptions and (mis)perceptions that believers often have about God and the nature of his sovereignty. This is a must-read.

Nature's Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith by Daniel Harrell



Many people who know me know by now that I count myself among the somewhat-small-but-seemingly-growing number of evangelical Christians who believe wholesale in the science of evolutionary theory. Over the past several years I've done lots of reading of Christians who have come to terms with the idea, without feeling the need to abandon any of the central tenets of Christian faith.

I can unreservedly say that Daniel Harrell's book is the best I've read on the topic. Major kudos to Harrell for writing a book that compels the mind just as much as the heart. His gut-wrenching honesty spills out on to the page, as he gets down to, not simply the issue of how much evidence there is or isn't, but to the real heart issues that make many Christians uneasy with the whole idea.

And for those who already accept evolution, Harrell's book is an inspirational treatise in regard to the question of, "If evolution is indeed true, what kind of picture of God does it leave us with?" If you are a Christian who believes in evolution, or are at least willing to consider its merits, PLEASE read this. You will be greatly rewarded with a work that, aside from challenging your mind, is also quite simply a fantastic literary accomplishment. You won't want to put it down.

The Heavens Proclaim His Glory: A Spectacular View of Creation Through the Lens of the Hubble Telescope, created and compiled by Lisa Stilwell

"One light-year is six trillion miles.

The Milky Way Galaxy is 100,000 light-years across.

(That's 600,000,000,000,000,000 miles.)

There are about 350,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe."

So begins The Heavens Proclaim His Glory, a coffee table book featuring a colorful array of real images from NASA's Hubble Telescope. Comets, planets, stars, supernovae, galaxies, and even entire clusters of galaxies are presented in glorious fashion, while quotes from Scripture and Christian writers highlight the spiritual significance of their existence and beauty.

The images contained in this book are spectacular and awe-inspiring. Words will do no justice to the almost terrifying sense of wonder these photographs can awaken in the viewer. As the title of the book indicates, the heavens tend to speak for themselves.

That being said, I found the various quotes from Christian writers to be more of a distraction than anything, especially the anti-evolution stuff. I would have enjoyed the book more had it just stuck with Scripture. That way it could have had more room to explain in a little more detail exactly what was being depicted.

Regardless, the pictures are what make the book truly worthwhile. If you have any sense of wonder regarding the cosmos, you'll want to check these out, and I hope that Christian publishers will put out more books like this.

Two More.

I have two books up for review today:



The Search for Significance: Seeing Your True Worth Through God's Eyes by Robert S. McGee (No relation to the Bobby McGee of the famous Janis Joplin song)

and



What Women Wish You Knew About Dating: A Single Guy's Guide to Romantic Relationships by Stephen W. Simpson

I'm reviewing these two books together because they contain very similar ideas. I know what you're thinking--on the surface, they don't appear to have much to do with each other. But I've learned through reading them and through my experiences that the subjects of these two books are inextricably linked. More specifically, a proper perspective of one's own self-worth is one of, if not the most vital component of healthy relationships. And so it is by a quite happy coincidence that I happened to stumble upon these books at around the same time.

McGee's book, The Search for Significance, may at first seem like a fluffy, feel-good, Christian self-encouragement book. At least, that was my first impression. The only reason I gave it a shot was because it was recommended to me by a trustworthy source. When I read it, I discovered that it wasn't about just making you feel good about yourself. It's about correcting the deep-seated self-perception issues that often lie at the root of our most unflattering behaviors.

Reading the book is a lot like reading an instruction manual about yourself. You'll often have moments of thinking, "OH! So, THAT'S why I respond [this certain way] every time someone does [this certain action] to me.

And once you read it, a lot of it seems like it should have been so obvious, but I think we mostly just don't realize that there's actually something we can do about this stuff. And like I said earlier, the solution is not simply to encourage ourselves and make us feel "special." The solution is a sober perspective about the true nature of God's forgiveness and grace, which is a humbling perspective, but at the same time allows us to live our lives without constant worry about deriving our self-worth from the opinions of others, living up to expectations, succeeding at our work, etc.

Dr. Simpson's book, What Women Wish You Knew About Dating, could almost be described as McGee's book applied to dating. It's addressed to men (as indicated by the title, although it has some cool sidebars for the ladies as well), and Simpson places a heavy emphasis on developing a sense of confidence and strong self-identity before pursuing a serious relationship.

I picked this up after reading Donald Miller's recommendation on his blog, in which he says that this is the book he wishes he had read when he was in his 20's. Dr. Simpson spends a good portion of the book talking about this idea of becoming your own man, then in the rest of the book he gives specific advice concerning the process of asking a girl out, the first 3 dates, and a little about what to do when the relationship becomes serious.

As far as Christian dating books go, I haven't read many, but this one is refreshing because it goes well beyond simple do's and don'ts. The first few chapters on what it means to develop into a godly, mature man are especially good, and would be useful to any man, regardless of whether you are currently dating, trying to date, or not even thinking about dating.

These two books have been an invaluable contribution to my spiritual growth over the last couple of months. They have challenged me to leave childish ways behind me, to take responsibility for my life, and to work on becoming the man that God has created me to be. This is the kind of manhood I can work with. It has nothing to do with being macho; it's simply about being mature. It's hard, but I'm finding that taking full responsibility for one's own life is the only way to truly live. And, as a side benefit, it makes you into the kind of man that a good woman could see herself marrying. : )

3 For the Price of 1!

Hello, fellow bibliophiles! I haven't been keeping you up-to-date about my reading habits, so it's time to play ketchup.

Just try not to get any on your shirt! (And please forgive the lack of detail, due to covering 3 books at once.)

First up:


In the reading group I'm taking part in, the 2nd selection was George Orwell's 1984. It was a fairly enjoyable read, especially once the love interest of the protagonist is introduced about a third of the way in. Dystopian fiction centered around totalitarian governments isn't usually my thing, but Orwell crafts his story skillfully enough for a casual reader to enjoy. Also, I appreciated the shock value of the ending, which I won't spoil here.

Next:


Yep, I recently read yet another book about Lost (I think this is no. 5 for me). Orson Scott Card is the editor of Getting Lost . . . Rest of the Title is Really Long. It's a collection of essays, and as is usually the case with any such anthology, there's some good ones and some bad ones. A few of these were great, but I'd say more than half of them were dull. Anywho, I still haven't stopped processing this show and its effects on my imagination. Not sure when I will.

Lastly:


Herman Wouk's The Language God Talks is difficult to categorize or even describe. Wouk is a fairly renowned Jewish-American novelist who happens to practice Orthodox faith and have an armchair fascination with science. He's written a handful of non-fiction works, and this most recent one is a kind of shot in the dark aimed at illuminating overlap in the spheres of science and religion. But don't mistake this book for a research paper. Wouk stays true to his poetic side and attempts to make his point in images, rather than systematic arguments. It works well enough for me. This subject is kind of a hobby of mine, and I enjoyed reading a different approach to it.

Well, now you're caught up on my reading habits. What have you been reading? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

The Catcher in the Rye

You could call Salinger's novel a story about a young man who struggles to live a normal life after the death of his younger brother. Even though, in a sense, that's technically true, it's a deeply inaccurate description of the nature of the book.

A better description would be that it is a book of page after page of funny, wonderfully-written prose that takes you right into the head and the heart of its compelling and oddly loveable narrator, Holden Caulfield. I say "oddly loveable" because he's quite the misanthrope. He likes almost no one, and rarely has anything positive to say. But Salinger constructed him in such a way that breeds a sort of instant familiarty. And the way that he thinks and talks is somehow just funny as hell. And you especially begin to sympathize with him when you learn that his younger brother, Allie, died a few years before the events of the novel, and it becomes evident that this tragedy probably stunted his maturity and is largely responsible for why he is the way he is.

And of course, Holden doesn't hate everybody. His fondness for the memory of his brother is the most beautiful and moving part of the whole novel, especially when Holden reflects on Allie's old baseball glove. Also, Holden is generally fond of children and particularly affectionate towards his little sister, Phoebe, who seems, in the end of the novel, to play a redemptive role in his life.

The Catcher in the Rye is both entertaining and strikingly beautiful; it is well worth anyone's time to read it.

Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Everyone should read this book! And please, let me qualify that statement by adding that I don't say that often. I can usually keep a sober judgment about a book; I try to discern whom among my friends would like it and whom wouldn't. So I don't speak carelessly when I say, again, everyone should read this book!

I found it by a chance encounter in Barnes and Noble. The title interested me, I picked it up and read the back cover, table of contents, sat down, read the introduction and 1st chapter and I was hooked. I had no idea who Elizabeth Gilbert was until I read on the cover that she also penned Eat, Pray, Love, which, again, I knew very little about, except for what the cover looked like and that it was a best-seller. Irrelevant.

Committed is essentially two books in one: informal, yet well-researched musings on the history of marriage, interspersed with a personal narrative about previously-divorced Gilbert's journey towards remarriage with a Brazilian man named Felipe, also previously divorced. Though serious about their relationship, neither had any intentions to legally tie the knot ever again, until their hand was forced by immigration issues with Felipe. Gilbert decided she wanted to do it right, so in the 10-month process of waiting for all the paperwork to be processed before they could marry, Gilbert decided to at least try to come to terms with the whole institution, in both an intellectual sense and an emotional sense.

The reason that EVERYONE needs to read this, or at least almost everyone, is because almost everyone is married or is contemplating marriage at some point in the future, and the wisdom that Gilbert finds in her journey is inspiring, beautiful, and practical. The historical/cultural sections are well-handled, engagingly-written, and delightfully educational. Not to mention the fact that the story of "Felipe and Lizzie" that looms behind it all is as sweet as anything I've read.

The primary reason I like this book can be found in the subtitle: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage. In many ways, marriage is being increasingly devalued in our country. You could call me a skeptic, as I struggle with the idea myself. Such a long commitment. Such an enormous responsibilty! Thoughts such as these cast a shadow over whatever romantic aspirations might arise in me from time to time. To watch Gilbert come to the conclusions that she does, without the aid of a Bible or pastors telling her the way things are "supposed" to be, is, for me, an ultimate affirmation of this ancient institution. Rather than simply allowing wisdom to rain down on her in the form of divine revelation, she digs deep for it, and I appreciate the sweat that went into finding that wisdom and refining it into the gem that is this book. Read it.