“She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.” – Louisa May Alcott
Computer issues and vacation have kept me from blogging for a while so I’m going to share my thoughts on three different books – one I loved,one was okay, and one I didn’t finish.
A Resurrection Shaped Life by Jake Owensby captures the heart of the Gospel and what following Jesus and resurrection really means for us. It challenges faith and resurrection as a cognitive personal process and suggests that it is much more a state of being and doing! He takes resurrection out of the neat American box of something that happened to Jesus then and something that will happen to us later and with wisdom and inspiration shows how we are to participate in it here and now.
He uses the stories and words of Jesus and his disciples to show that real resurrection is a process, not an event. From Jesus’s directives to turn the other cheek, love your enemies, spend time with “sinners” and more he puts before us how difficult truly being Christ-like can seem. However, he offers encouragement and explains, “…nobody gets the hang of living like Jesus all at once. Jesus teaches us to do things that most ordinary people call naive or just plain crazy. Anybody is going to be at least a little hesitant at first.” It’s a process – but it is one that requires doing the things. I think that all too often we think the things Jesus directed the disciples and us to do are a good idea, in theory. We make exceptions. We pick and choose what does or does not change with culture.
The heart of this book is much needed HOPE of what the world could look like if we started living out resurrection instead of waiting for it. As harsh and lost as the world currently seems, he notes that Paul would remind us not to despair. “Hope does not disappoint so long as we feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. So long as we refuse to greet the stranger as an enemy. So long as we insist that our own welfare depends upon our neighbor’s well-being. So long as we not only respect but guard the dignity of every human being.” (Italics are mine)
For me, the message of the book comes down to this:
“Don’t just cling to hope. Be it. Lead a resurrection shaped life.”
Final note: This book is set up with reflection questions after each chapter and would make a great personal or group study.
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The Disfiguration of Nature by James Krueger offers a different take on environmentalism and why is should be (and has historically been) a “conservative” issue rather than a “liberal” one. I found the history of America’s relationship with the Earth interesting and thru modernization we have become so disconnected with the land, what we need from it, and why we need to care for it.
While it initially felt a little condescending to me, I agree with his observation that:
“If we put up with big business, we have to put up with big government – the latter to check the former, not to serve it. It is more the point of this work, however, to forward recognition that the moral capacity of the average American for a real appreciation of putting conservation to work in the field will not enlarge unless the average American knows what it means to directly rely on and participate in the local land community.”
Overall, this book reads more like a thesis and some of the connections with current event issues seemed thin to me. He ends, though with an overview of the effects of the politicizing of environmental and human care that I completely agree with, writing:
“We have to conclude, then, that our political and moral categories are direly confused, and it is in the interest of those who profit the most from this confusion that they stay confused. As for the priest, he forgets that, as a priest, his citizenship is primarily in God’ kingdom, and only secondarily I the American empire, though he is charged to live in peace in the latter. He has lost his grounding in the gospel for the sake of a worldly agenda…”
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Finally, I personally would not recommend The INTRAfaith Conversation by Susan M Strouse.
While I liked the idea of this book, I found it difficult to read and ended up giving up on it which is unusual for me. I have little opinion of the content of what I read because I found the language to be geared to those with higher theology degrees and tired quickly of having to read footnotes, look up assumed to be known concepts, etc. This book also has reflection questions after each chapter and might be good in a higher academic setting rather than a personal read.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received these books free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR,Part 255.
Porch Time Ponderings 