Book Blog
2004-2005 School Year
Notes, comments and
reviews of books I’ve been reading -- keith.drury@indwes.edu
|
Like many things I start I maintain them for a while
then tire of them. I’ve quit blogging undeveloped thoughts now and merely toss them into
a box near my desk—I now have enough ideas to write a column every day until
I am 100 years old—so I’ll probably not write them all ;-) But
the following is an example of book blogging I did
one year—now I just read the books instead of writing reviews of them. |
è See all of Drury’s
book reviews on Amazon.com
A
Century of Holiness Theology
An interesting book by Mark Quanstrom for anybody interested in the shifts in holiness theology in the 20th century. He argues that there are two competing theories of holiness today—generally represented by Richard Taylor and Mildred Wynkoop. I enjoyed the book though of course it is only what it calls itself—a history of holiness in the Nazarene church, virtually ignoring everyone else—but this is to be expected since the Nazarenes consider themselves the “holders of the flame” and think of everyone else in the holiness movement as fragmentary leftovers that failed to join THE Church of the Nazarene. In a way they are right—the Church of the Nazarene is the largest “holiness” denomination. But of course there is no holiness movement any more other than that hiding out in the hills clinging to the former positions. Indeed Richard Taylor himself eventually took refuge in a holdout cave while the rest of the holiness movement completes it headlong leap into becoming mainline evangelical. It is of course to early to write a history of holiness theology in the broader movement but one will come some day—perhaps from Donald Dayton?
Scholarship and Christian Faith
Oh boy—I’m reading this book with seven other faculty
members… (well, some are reading their assignments each week—others are
no better than their students—showing up unprepared—one didn’t even buy the
book!) The authors here are challenging
the narrow definition of “integration of faith and learning” as being too
reformed. They intend to “enlarge the 
conversation”
and broaden the definition. They want to
include things like integration of “faith and hope” or “faith and love” not
just integrating sterile faith and the disciplines. They want to add the hands and heart to the
head stuff the integrationists talk about.
Written by a wife-and-husband team (Psychology and Church historian)
they are provoking a stir in the reformed dominated educational cartel. Of course I have an affinity for people who
challenge whatever is the conventional wisdom, so I like the book so far. (It is probably good these writers are from
an Anabaptist heritage where they are accustomed to being persecuted—I bet the
wonderfully brilliant Calvinists who are given to “the life of the mind” will
burn Rhonda and Jake Jacobsen at the academic stake! This’ll be fun to watch—stay tuned for some
of my notes in later blogs…
East
of Eden
When I’m writing a book I like to read one at
the same time—it inspires me to be a better writer. I just finished reading John Steinbeck’s 600 page novel, East of Eden. Whew! What a book.
The intertwined story of two families—the Hamiltons
and the Trasks—Steinbeck
masterfully explored questions of good and evil, inherited depravity,
perfectionism, and free will in this book that is drawn out of the well of the
Old Testament story of Cain and Abel. A
great read—I only regret it is finished.
I promise myself I’ll get a group together sometime to read it through
again, and eat lunch over it once a week. The almost-fatalistic approach can be
depressing at times if you imagine humans as better than they really are, but
there are enough glimpses of hope and goodness to have keep me with him. My favorite author is Michner—mostly
because he writes of places and generations.
This book is similar, but besides doing the place-generations thing, the
author tosses in a paragraph or phrase (about one per ten pages, for me) that
are so stunning in their crafting and depth of thought that I sometimes would
lay the book down at that point and go meditate on the porch for an hour on
that single phrase. In the book I’m
writing I’d be happy to have a single phrase that good. I’ll try.
I thank Steinbeck for introducing me to people
who are now a part of the pantheon of good and evil in my mind (some busts appear
in both pantheons): Cyrus Trask(I know someone like
him), his favorite son Adam (A Isaac-type guy) his unfavored
brother Charles. I know even better the
next generation: Adam’s sons Cal(unfavored, a lot
like the God-be-merciful-to-me pray-er) and good Aron. Sam Hamilton
is a stand-out example of good and in a curious way his straight-laced wife
which reminds me of many stern holiness folk of the past generations. The real central character of evil is
certainly Cathy (later Kate). Whew—are
there really people (especially women) this evil? Abra Bacon remind
me of a girl I knew in grade school, and perhaps Steinbeck
is successful in making the central character a Hebrew word—timshel.
Mike Buck is working on a
manuscript of historical fiction. I read
the first section today—the story of the last “Coventer” in
I know we’re not supposed to
be reading Dan Brown’s work since we evagelicals have been told to be mad at him
for the lousey job he did with the accuracy part of history in DaVinci Code. Of course I agree with
Garlow and others that the history of DaVinci Code is mostly conjecture.
(Though there is truth in the main point—powerful church leaders have always and
will always try to keep the truth a secret from the common folk). Nevertheless I read DaVinci Code and thought
it was a great book—as far as being a thriller and good writing with great
dialogue. At least good enough for me to read his Digital Fortress on my way flying home from the Colorado Trail
yesterday. Digital Fortress is another code book (and I suppose anyone working
for the government will see lots of mistakes in this one too. C’mon—get off of
it, it is fiction based on scraps of fact and conjecture.) While Dan Brown
carries around a very ordinary name, his writing is anything but ordinary. He has all the action of a Tom Clancy novel
without the preachiness (well, I take
that back, all writers have agendas—Brown’s is just more nuanced than Clancy’s.
Digital; Fortress was a great afternoon’s read—lots of fun, and it didn’t take
much longer than seeing the movie—which ought to be made.
Why I’m not a Calvinist
Finished up Why
I’m Not a Calvinist by Asbury Seminary’s Jerry Walls and Joe Dongell this morning, A BOOK John and Mandy gave me for
Father’s day. Soon I must return to
unpacking boxes and re-hanging closet doors in our new house, though. This is the best book on this subject since
Shank’s books, Life in the Son and Elect in the Son --only this book far
better and shorter. It is one of those
books I wish I’d written—but I couldn’t have, even on my best day—they were the
guys to write it. Well done
J&J! (I’m striking it rich this
summer with books—usually I’m not so impressed with what I’m reading—two in a
row! I’ve written some things to
Calvinists and get all kind of entertaining responses from them (accompanied by
lengthy lists of proof-texts).
Calvinists like to instruct. I
think I’ll rest my case on this book for now.
I never tried to convert a Calvinist anyway. This book doesn’t either. It merely insists that there is an
alternative (minority) view. These guys
did a superb job. THIS is why I am not a
Calvinist—you have stated it well—even more reasons than I had before. I was a five pointer in college and during
half of seminary, but I converted. I switches
for the reasons outlined in this book (and a few others too). Walls’ philosophical approach is helpful, and
Dongell is always strong in making biblical
arguments. Sure, the book is not enough
to persuade most Calvinists to switch (God Himself could not do that... well, er, I suppose, being sovereign, God might be able to do it, but it would be hard even for God I bet).
Anyway, congratulations on a great book J&J. I get one or two long documents a week from
my Calvinist readers who are totally perplexed that their list of proof texts
has not convinced me to fall in line. I
don’t think I’ll even respond seriously any more to them any more… I’ll just
send them the Amazon
link for this book as my response.
Thank you guys for a great book! (By the way, there is also a companion
book, Why
I am Not an Arminian if you want both sides)
Ken Schenck’s new
manuscript
Taking some
time from unpacking boxes I got to read Ken Schenck’s new book manuscript, “Who Decides what the Bible means? WOAH! Great book!
I stopped at a drive in hot dog stand and started reading while gulping
down a hot dog and a root beer. The gal
finally came and got my tray from the window without asking—I was totally
engulfed in the ideas he presented. I
just stayed there and read the entire book.
In some ways this is a hard read for evangelicals. Not that it is hard to read, but it exposes
how we really read the Bible “simply for what it says.” I loved his frequent illustrations and
examples and of course his emphasis on the church–reading the Bible in context AND
community. And he avoided the “We got-it-now”
error of so many scholars, taking a humble approach to the “most recent
scholarship” even. This is rare for a
scholar. And you might expect I liked
his emphasis on “good sense reading.”
This book signals the death of the “Bible Stict
Constructionists” – those Bible scholars who insist “the Bible cannot mean what
it did not mean.” That is, those who
make their living telling us regular people the only meaning the Bible has is
fixed in the first century (or 500 BC or whenever the words were written.) Good riddance to you! This cabal of “original meaning scholars:
have too long locked up the Bible’s meaning among themselves like the oil
cartel. While Ken is not as hard on this
crowd as I am, he is pretty hard—for he is one of them in a way. Weaknesses? I was feeling that a book who was
arguing for a flexible meaning of words and a changing meaning of the text
through the ages should have more emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit. I had even written that down in my
notes. Then Ken covered the notion
thoroughly in the last 5 % of the boo, satisfying me even there. So, other than some repetition here and there
that is always in a first draft of a manuscript I was delighted with the book. It can be read by a teen, not just other
scholars (though for some scholars it may be the harbinger of their craft’s
obituary). Congratulations Ken—this is
your best book yet! Translating Philo
for the ordinary person has made you able to write more clearly than I. Every student of the Bible should read this
book when it gets published!
Dream West— life of John C. Freemont
I just finished reading
David Nevin’s biographical novel of John C. Fremont Dream
West. While backpacking in 
o (1) If you enter politics you’ve got to play
politics.
o (2) People with great personal ambition who do not
know how to compromise and horse trade usually get destroyed by those with
those skills.
o (3) Don’t enter business if you aren’t going to learn
the rules and watch the business.
o (4) Don’t make many enemies If you want to keep from
being lonely in your old age.
o (5) When the chips are down only those who love you stay with you—respect and
accomplishment will not inspire permanent loyalty—only love does that.
o (6) Never conclude you are a failure in life—the next
generation will decide that for you after you’re dead. (7) Marriage is God’s way of helping us see
our most hazardous traits—listening and learning this from a spouse can save
great pain later.
o (7) When somebody gets a really raw deal those who
resent it most are the family not the victim.
o (8) When large sums of money are involved people
change.
o (9) Being great at one thing seldom transfers to
being great at another.
o (10) I don’t think I would have liked Abraham Lincoln
if I had lived at the time—some people look better a hundred years later.
This reading blog was
started June 2004. To see a few other book reviews I did before this time see
these:
50 years of book
reviews on the relationship of Church and Culture—nine key books about
“world-changing”
Quality with Soul
(Higher education and saving/keeping/losing its soul)
The Younger Evangelicals
(Robert Webber)