The Flying Inn

The Ender

2012-01-28T06:13:00.009-05:00

Me: Okay, I’m finished grading all my papers. You can stop staring at me like that.

Slender Man: …

Me: …

Slender Man: …

Me: No seriously. It used to be creepy. Now it’s just annoying. Go away please.

Slender Man: …

Me: Okay, okay, here’s $20.

[Exit Slender Man]

Me: All right, now that that’s over with…

[Enter Slender Man]

Slender Man: …

Me: What?

Slender Man: …

Me: Oh all right, I suppose so. But just this once!

!!! SLENDER RAVE !!!

By the way, for those who, like myself, were extremely curious: Slendy uses a Half-Windsor or Prince Albert depending on how he’s feeling. The Windsor and Pratt are too wide to look right on his narrow torso, and the Four in Hand is too sloppy looking.

Back to Normal

2012-01-26T07:20:00.005-05:00

Well, I haven't seen the slendy one for a couple of days. I guess this meme/monster has ceased to find me an interesting target, and I can go back to life as usual. I have to tell you, being stalked by Slender Man was even worse than that time when I was Raptured. Now I just need̷ ̴to͡ ͞m̧a͝ke͞ t̸h͜e͞ p͟úsh͘ a̢̯̯̳ͬͪ͋͒̽n̯͉͔͖̪͊̌d͙̠̋̉̚ ̙͙͇̆̄͊ͮͧ̑̽f̪̥̠̤͙̹͍i̓̈͆͂͆͞n̟̲͎̻̩̖̿ͭ͛̒̿į̟̗̦̳̯̲̈s̫ͬ̀̿̇h̛̹̲̖͇̘͓ͨ̈̅̅̈ͨͮ ̟͈̬͎̺̖ͤͣ͌ͬͅu̬͍͚ͬ̄͢p̡̰ w̵͉͓͈͍̠̰̚iͩ̆̐̏͏͉̞͇͎͍̮͙t͌ͮͣ̀͗͏̣̪h̗͈̲̔ ̣̜̙̝̟͔̫͛̿͆̀m̱̖̖̫̆̏ͧͭ̉̽͡ỹ̯̲̠̩͍̗̋̿̄ͪ̈́̚ ͖̝͒͒s̹͙̘ͫͥ̈́̽̔̈e̡̲͔̮̟̩̦͑̅̆m̞̘̯͌͐̒̓ͮ̉̍͘e̹̪̯̩̭͖ͦ̓̈ͮͧ̿ͅs̟̝͎͍̬̙̬̆́́̈͒͘tͦ̔̉ͣͭ̚e̩͍̓̓͐̉͟r̛̠ ̱̖̃͊͒̈́̂͡g̵̠̠̤̠̐̅̉͑r̝ͮ̅́́͠ạ̵͉͍ͭ͂ͮͪ̚ḑ̈́̄ͤ̇̽͑̚e̢͋s̯̹̅̇̓̿͛͡ f̴̢̰̟ͬͦ̐ͥͥͨͧ̚̚͞o͙ͮ̆ͦ̿͟r̲̪̼̍ͥͬ͐̅͗ͤ̀͞ ̪̰͈ͬͣͯͨͫ̿͆͢ẉ̸̨̜̼̘̬̻ͮ͛͐ͪ͋̂̚o̵̰̣̞̥̺̍̑̂̌ͯ́̚̕ŗ̸͇̫̦͋̅ͫ̓͋͂̚k̵ͮͤ͒̔ͥ͋̂҉̸͙̟̩̭,͕̘̟̘͎̐̅ͦ ̄҉͏̢̣͉̰̻̖͇͖ä͇̰̼̟͓̻̽̆͟ͅn̘̱̟͍͓̠͖ͫ̎̎ͯ̊d͉̻̦̪͂̾ͤͅ ̵̝̳̱̦͌̒ͨ͆̈́̑̀̚I̢̲̻̙̥̞̓ͣ̒̔ͅ'̪̹̬͚̓͐̔l̰͚͙̝͙͉ͭͪͅl̤̼̣̤̙͓̐̄̿́͟ ̫̜̝͙̬̤͈̙͋̾͋ͩ̈͊̾́ḅ̱̦͎̩͍̺͙̾ͭ̑ͪ̆̊è̙̪͛ ̨̻̞̺̋͑͑̎̕b̖̠͓͚̠̫͙͍̓̇̅̐ả̳̼͉͙͇̠̬̐ͫ̐ͯ̌̌c̦͉͔̭͛̚k̯̜̲̖͉̯̟̑ͤ̏̔̎́͝ ̼̙̺͓̯̩̮͚͊̊̊̆̀͐̄̅͜͝oͯ͑̆̿͗ͬ̓͏̗̺͇͖̯̠̭̕͡n̴̷̤̝̺̺̹͎̖̜̎̔̀͠ ̒̆̓̋͂ͯ͏̰̮̩̀̕t̘͇͋͝ṟ̡̟̣̄͑͠aͭͨ̐ͯ͑ͫ͏͇͉͕̗.̻̖̥̠̉ͪ̄̅͢͟͠.̧͖̜̤̖́ͨͫ̏͟.̢̗̬̼̦͇͚̪̐̋̽

Ọ̢̰̞̖̙̺͕̩̻̟̦ͪ̓̌̈̄̐̀̇ͤ͘h̷̷̨̘̹͓̤̜̭̼̦͇͓͚̺̝͖͕̣̖̣̐̈́̒ͨ̊͌̈̋ͮ̋̉̃͋,̢̡̛̪̦̖̘̓̿̄̆̍ͧ͘ ͒ͦ̎ͯͨ҉͘҉̭̻̲̞̭̬͍̣̰͔̯̦̞̥ͅP̷̷̦̰͔̘͍̬̘͚̥̦ͬ͊͂̇̉̏ͭͯ̒ͩ͌̈́͞ō̡͇̩͇̗̜̯̞̺̯̯͉͈͕̓̃͂͞o̷̺̙̙̱̰͈͕̦͇͓͕̙͇͚̖ͪ̐̊̍̊͗̓̔̎̇ͫͫ͘̕͜!̷̴̢͔͎̪̙̣͔͉̅ͤ̂ͪͯ̌̾̓ͣ͌ͨ̓̿̅̊ͮ͘ͅͅ

Great. Now I've Done It.

2012-01-24T21:35:00.006-05:00

Th҉is ís al͟l ̴you̡r faul̵t͜ Er͡ica͜.

I̹̣̖̱̗̟f ͔̫̠͎ ̵͙I somehow ͏ͅ s̩̖̥͇͠u̙̝̰̰͙̝̱r̡̝͉̬̖̼vi͎͔̕v͈̱̯͖̗͡e̡̖ ̨̩t͔̰͚h̪̭͙͚̞ͅi̳͎s̝̯̫͔

I̝͚͕̮͘ͅ’̙̜̜̩ͅm̦͕̩ ͔̪͡s̵̜̥̤̼ȩ̩̮n͚̝̘ḓ͚͡ḭ̱͈͚̙n͕g̨̻ ̗̩̜͍h͔̮̀i̩̲m҉̱͇̣

ȧ̠̫͖͓ͩͣ͠f̻̭̩̫͙͑̈́ͨͯ̒t͞ē͔̣̓̃̕r̡͉̬̭̺̠̪̒̇͆̓ͅ ̦ͣ̓̃y̧͓̘̽͛ͬͪ͆͆̍o̢̤̘͕̓͊̈́̄ͤ͒̐u̹̹̬̲͉̹̥ͭ̑͜ ͛ ͇̩̟͙̯̭̈́̏ͣͣn̹͈̳̿͌͌̽ê̾x̣͕̺̠̥̓ͬt͙͇͈͚̏ͤ̚!̸͖̣͎̦̟̬͙͗

Fictional Detectives

2012-01-24T07:20:00.004-05:00

It's that time again; time for the weekly top five list. Feel free to respond with your own lists if you think mine is bunk. This week I'm listing my:

Top 5 Greatest Fictional Detectives

1. Hercule Poirot
2. Father Brown
3. Sherlock Holmes
4. Lord Peter Wimsey
5. Miss Marple

Runners up: C. Auguste Dupin, Sam Spade, William of Baskerville

A Creepy Video

2012-01-23T22:06:00.004-05:00

First of all, if you don't know about the Slenderman, you won't get this video. I first ~~was traumatized by~~ discovered Slenderman while reading creepy stories online. But until my sister posted this, I didn't know there were videos. This video is the scariest one I've seen by far, so don't watch it if you plan on sleeping any time in the next week or so.

Doug Wilson on SOPA and PIPA

2012-01-20T20:42:00.001-05:00

He makes a great point.

Ask Doug: What is your take on SOPA? from Canon Wired on Vimeo.

Dinner Guests and New Gimmick

2012-01-18T22:30:00.007-05:00

From time to time in the past, I've tried gimmicky things on my blog. Posting a poem one day a week and things like that. Alas, it never lasts. Nevertheless I'm going to try something gimmicky again, and see what sort of shelf life it gets.

The idea is this. Every Wednesday I'm going to post a Top 5 List. It may be related to history, theology, literature, or anything else I feel like at the time. Anyone who's reading this can feel free to agree, disagree, comment, post your own list, etc. Think of it as a sort of discussion starter. So here goes:

Top 5 Living People I'd Love to Have Together at a Dinner Party

1. Stephen Fry
2. Terry Pratchett
3. Douglas Wilson
4. Umberto Eco
5. Peter Kreeft

Midterm Exams

2012-01-17T08:42:00.001-05:00

My students are taking their midterm exams this week. The video below may or may not be related to this fact.

Literary Lists

2012-01-16T13:50:00.003-05:00

As readers of my blog will know, I like books. I try to always have a few books going at a time, so I have something to read no matter what mood I'm in. However, there's only so much time in life, and so I don't like to read bad books. To this end, I keep a folder with various book lists from sources I trust to give me recommendations. I also always add books that friends recommend, so I've got a literally unending reading list.

The best source I have is a document by George Grant that he used to have on his website. I have never gotten a bad recommendation from this list. Unfortunately, the list is no longer online, and so I'm going to post it here so others can benefit from it. (Books I've read are underlined. As you can see, I've got a long way to go.)

Literary Lists
By George Grant

Modern Non-Fiction List:
1. Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
2. The Stone Lectures, Abraham Kuyper
3. Knowing God, J.I. Packer
4. Mont St. Michel and Chartres, Henry Adams
5. The Servile State, Hilaire Belloc
6. Up From Slavery, Booker T. Washington
7. The Birth of the Modern, Paul Johnson
8. Hero Tales of American History, Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge
9. The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill
10. A World Torn Apart, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
11. Home, Witold Rybczynski
12. A Texan Looks at Lyndon, J. Evetts Haley
13. How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis
14. My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
15. I’ll Take My Stand, Donald Davidson, et al.
16. George Whitefield. Arnold Dallimore
17. 84 Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
18. The Calvinistic Concept of Culture, Henry Van Til
19. A Wake for the Living, Andrew Lytle
20. A Christian Manifesto, Francis Schaeffer
21. Where Nights Are Longest, Colin Thubron
22. Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
23. Civil Rights, Thomas Sowell
24. Essays and Criticisms, Dorothy Sayers
25. Ideas Have Consequences, Richard M. Weaver

Modern Fiction and Verse List:
1. Oxford Book of English Verse, Arthur Quiller-Couch
2. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
3. The Father Brown Stories, G.K. Chesterton
4. Witch Wood, John Buchan
5. The Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot
6. The Space Trilogy, C.S. Lewis
7. A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
8. The Four Men, Hilaire Belloc
9. Penhally, Caroline Gordon
10. Collected Stories, William Faulkner
11. The Wizzard of Oz, L.Frank Baum
12. Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White
13. Scaramouche, Rafael Sabatini
14. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
15. Kristen Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset
16. Love in the Ruins, Walker Percy
17. The Velvet Horn, Andrew Lytle
18. The Footsteps at the Lock, Ronald Knox
19. The Weekend Wodehouse, P.G. Wodehouse
20. Falling, Colin Thubron
21. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingles Wilder
22. The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
23. Song of the Lark, Willa Cather
24. Possession, A.S. Byatt
25. At Home in Mitford, Jan Karon

Classic Theology List:
1. City of God, St. Augustine
2. Confessions, St. Augustine
3. Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis and Gerhard Groote
4. Institutes of Christian Religion, John Calvin
5. Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther
6. Westminster Confession of Faith
7. On the Incarnation, St. Athanasius
8. Merle D’Aubigne, The History of the Reformation
9. Treasury of David, Charles Haddon Spurgeon
10. Revolution and Unbelief, William Groen van Prinsterer
11. John Knox, The History of the Reformation in Scotland
12. Book of Martyrs, John Foxe
13. Religious Affections, Jonathan Edwards
14. The Death of Death, John Owen
15. Christie Magnalia Americana, Cotton Mather
16. Practical Christianity, William Wilberforce
17. Collected Sermons, Thomas Chalmers
18 Journals, George Whitefield
19. Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan
20. Scots Worthies, John Howie
21. A Crook in the Lot, Thomas Boston
22. The Bruised Reed, Richard Sibbes
23. The Life of God in the Soul of Man, Henry Scougal
24. The Covenant of Grace, Matthew Henry
25. The Reformed Pastor, Richard Baxter

Bannockburn Reading Lists:

Antiquity:
1. The Epic of Gilgamesh
2. Ryken, Literature of the Bible
3. Wines, The Hebrew Republic
4. Aesop’s Fables
5. Johnson, Rasselas
6. Eddershiem, Temple Worship
7. Plato, Republic
8. Aristotle, Rhetoric, Politics, and Poetics
9. Portable Historians
10. Plays, Aristophanes, Euripides, Sophocles
11. Bulfinch, Mythology
12. Homer, Iliad
13. Homer, Odyssey
14. Plutarch, Noble Lives
15. Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis
16. Confucius, The Analects
17. Bhagavad Gita
18. Portable Reader
19. Cicero, Orations
20. Sparks, Apostolic Fathers
21. Augustine, City of God

Christendom:
1. Augustine, Confessions
2. Athanasius, On the Incarnation
3. Rushdoony, Foundations of Order
4. Mallory, Le Mort d’Arthur
5. Haney, Beowulf
6. Tolkien, Sir Gawain
7. Machiavelli, Prince
8. Dante, Inferno
9. Aquinas, Shorter Summa
10. Runciman, First Crusade
11. Scott, Talisman
12. More, Utopia
13. Scott, Ivanhoe
14. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
15. Shakespeare, Taming of Shrew
16. Goethe, Faustus
17. Scott, Great Christian Revolution
18. Calvin, The Golden Booklet
19. Vasari, Lives
20. Shakespeare, Sonnets
21. Westminster Confession
22. Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress
23. Chalmers, Parish Life
24. Spurgeon, All of Grace
25. Pascal, Pensees

Modernity:
1. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
2. Van Til, Calvinistic Concept of Culture
3. Scott, Robespierre
4. Austen, Pride and Prejudice
5. Eliot, Silas Marner
6. Scott, Antiquarian
7. Johnson, Birth of the Modern
8. Portable Romantic Poets
9. Conrad, Heart of Darkness
10. Dickens, Hard Times
11. Grant, Big Stick
12. Mansfield, Then Darkness Fled
13. Ferguson, Pity of War
14. Buchan, Greenmantle
15. Fitzgerald, Great Gatsby
16. Belloc, Servile State
17. Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath
18. Mencken, Crestomathy
19. Mansfield, Never Give In
20. Quiller-Couch, Q and I
21. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings
22. O’Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find
23. Hall, Arrogance of Modern
24. Lewis, Experiment in Criticism
25. Wolfe, From Bauhaus to Our House
26. Powers, Dinner at Deviant’s Palace
27. Kunstler, Geography of Nowhere

The Blood of the Moon

2012-01-14T11:01:00.004-05:00

I just finished reading The Blood of the Moon by George Grant. I really appreciated this introduction to the history of conflict between Islam and the West. Most of the conflict that goes on in the Middle East is steeped in history and religion and cannot be solved with political initiatives or U.N. tinkering. It was especially fascinating to see the obsession with cultural history that seems to be a characteristic of many Middle Eastern countries. It's a bit like the nationalism that swept through Europe in the 19th century. It was also surprising for me to see how much the U.S. has been involved in setting up and toppling regimes, and how often we have supported both sides in a conflict or even turned a blind eye when tyrants have slaughtered their own civilians if it is politically expedient to do so.

My only complaint is that the book was too short and left me with too many questions. I guess that just the nature of an introduction, though. There's a nice bibliography at the end that I plan to plunder.

Also, I am told that many people have complained about the non-standard translation of the Koran used by Grant in this book. Specifically, the opening quote appears to be one verse off in its reference and has an odd translation that doesn't appear in most English renderings. According to his preface, he used a translation created by the St. Catherine Bible Society in Bethlehem. I guess I'll try to get my hands on a copy of that translation and check it out.

4/5 stars

Review Grab Bag # 8

2012-01-12T23:33:00.009-05:00

Almost done reviewing all the books I read last year!

HISTORICAL FICTION

The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe

Well, I finally read this book, which is on Veritas Press’s Omnibus I reading list. The year I taught Omnibus I, we skipped this book because of time crunch and I finally decided to go back and give it a go. After all, the cool looking movie based on the book was coming out and I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. And how was the book? In short, it was engrossing. For a book that is said to be geared toward children, it’s very adult. The beginning of the plot involves Marcus, the Roman legionnaire who has been maimed in his first battle and now is unfit for military service and how he adjusts himself to civilian life with his uncle. A lot of time is spent developing his friendships with his Brigantes slave, Esca, whom he saved from the gladiator games, a young Iceni girl named Cottia, and a wild wolf cub that he adopts. All of these characters are, to some extent, outcasts, and it’s both realistic and touching to see how they come to know and interact with one another.

The main plot of the story, however, deals with the Ninth Legion of Rome, which marched north of Hadrian’s wall years ago and disappeared. Marcus’s father was in the Ninth Legion, and the loss of the Eagle of the Ninth is a blot on his family honor. When the Eagle is rumored to have been spotted in the north, Marcus, disguised as a traveling occulist and Esca, whom Marcus has freed, journey among the savage tribes to retrieve the Eagle before it can be used as a rallying point for the British tribes against the Romans.

For a book specifically geared to children, this was very well written. The scenes where Marcus takes his leave from Cottia and where he frees Esca are very moving. The relationships and customs of the time are realistic and unforced, and the friendship between Marcus and Esca is one of the better literary friendships I’ve seen. And the movie? Well, after loving the book so much, and having read that Cottia and Cub are entirely cut from the movie, Marcus does not free Esca, but rather takes him north as a slave, and several other major character changes, I just decided to give the movie a pass. Sorry Channing Tatum. I’ll watch G.I. Joe again if I want to see your acting.

5/5 stars

The King Must Die by Mary Renault

I had heard good things about Mary Renault, but this book really blew me away. The story of Theseus, his travels, and the Minotaur are familiar stories from Greek Mythology. Renault, however, reconstructs the culture of the Mycenaean civilization and brings the story to life in a way that is historically believable, while creating characters that go far deeper than their mythological counterparts. Renault really gets the interaction between the native earth-goddess-worshiping peoples and the influx of Hellenic peoples with their sky-gods. The interplay between the “earthlings” the Hellenes and the Minoans, the attitudes and aspirations of the people, and their religious sentiments all rang true with things I have previously learned about the culture and made the experience entirely immersive. Even the explanation of the Minotaur combined with the Minoan practice of the bull dance made perfect sense and is completely natural. The explanation of why Theseus abandons Ariadne will seem very familiar to fans of Euripides, and seems to make Theseus out to be less of a jerk than the traditional myth. Also, I’d like to say hooray for Renault that she connects the Mycenaens and Minoans with the Biblical Philistines, a connection that many people never get.

In summary, this is a well-written book, which, although not based on a real historical plot, nevertheless manages to beautifully create a real historical time period. I couldn’t put the book down until the very end, and even then I was reluctant. I hear there’s a sequel…

Note: A word of warning for any potential younger readers of my blog. The pagans in this story are pagans. They do pagan things and act like pagans act. Because of this the story would probably get a hard PG-13 rating as a movie. Reader discretion is advised.

Further Note: If you’ve read Suetonius, it’s probably nothing you haven’t seen before.

5/5 stars

On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers

Arrr… Pirate books. It’s no secret that I love Pirates. I love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, I love the Monkey Island Games, and I could play Sid Meier’s Pirates for hours. I also love a good pirate novel. Currently Captain Blood by Raphael Sabatini holds my regard as the best pirate book ever. However On Stranger Tides comes very close. The story follows Jack Shandy, as he comes to be known, a puppeteer who is traveling to the New World to confront his uncle who swindled him out of his inheritance. There he meets Beth Hurwood, the love interest, and her weird professor father. Along the way, the ship is attacked by pirates and Jack joins their crew.

Jack learns that there is more to being a pirate than swords and cutlasses, though, as dark Voodoo magic is common currency among the buccaneers. The master of dark magic, however, is Blackbeard who, due to some accidents with his voodoo, finds himself haunted by restless spirits. Blackbeard is determined to find the fabled Fountain of Youth which will rid him of his curse. But his plans don’t stop there. It quickly becomes apparent that the professor, the professor’s assistant, and Blackbeard all have their reasons for wanting to tap the Fountain’s limitless power, and Beth is a helpless pawn in their plans.

Zombies, evil gods, and blood rituals abound. And the best part is that author Tim Powers goes out of his way to make sure that nothing in his book contradicts actual historical events. His book is more a behind-the-scenes explanation of history. He answers such questions as, “Why did wealthy landowner Stede Bonnet give up his life of ease and become a pirate with Blackbeard?”, “Why did Blackbeard allow himself to be caught in such an obvious trap at the end of his life?”, and “Why was it so darned hard to kill the man?”

This book, with its mixture of pirates and the supernatural, was an influence on the original Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The Pirates of the Caribbean writers even went so far as to use the title of this book for the newest POTC movie. Don’t be fooled though; the plots are nothing alike. Aside from the fact that there is a guy named Blackbeard and there is something called the Fountain of Youth, nothing else is similar in any way. Take my advice, skip the movie and read the book. It’s epic.

5/5 stars

Effectual Doers

2012-01-11T14:08:00.003-05:00

"This is why the Bible makes it plain that there are only two kinds of people in the world: effectual doers and forgetful hearers (James 1:25). And that is why the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers is primarily to bring to our remembrance the word of truth (John 14:26)."

- from The Blood of the Moon by George Grant, p. 14

A Plug for Pratchett

2012-01-06T13:59:00.002-05:00

I’m currently reading Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett, and of course it’s funny in the way that only a sharp British author can be. If you’ve never read one of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, you really need to give one a try. Aside from the great set up, (Discworld is a flat planet that moves through space on the back of four giant elephants who are in turn standing on the shell of a giant turtle, whose sex is, to this point, unknown) his writing style is wonderful. His books are full of witty satire on our modern world, obvious parodies of pop culture and various genres of literature, and that subtle humor that you don’t even realize is humor until a few seconds later when it hits you with the force of a thick rubber band that has been pulled to the breaking point and let fly at your head. For example, this morning I was reading the following passage. (My thought process appears in italics.)

“…there is, on the pillow, an elderly teddy bear called Mr. Wobble.

Traditionally, in the lexicon of pathos, such a bear should have only one eye, but as a result of a childhood error in Glenda’s sewing, he has three, and is more enlightened than the average bear.

Juliet Stollop’s bed was marketed to her…”

wait a second “…more enlightened than the average bear…” did Terry Pratchett just make a Yogi Bear joke? *slight chuckle* well that’s odd. Anyway...

“Juliet Stollop's bed was marketed to...”

hold on

“…he has three, and is more enlightened than…” three eyes…Yogi…enlightened

*SNAP*

*laughter*

So anyway, that’s how it goes with Terry Pratchett. Go read one of his books. It’s worth it.

George Grant Facts

2012-01-05T14:15:00.003-05:00

For Christmas my wonderful wife bought me the entire George Grant mp3 collection from Wordmp3! This means that I have hours and hours of wonderful lectures ahead of me from the most intelligent man alive today.

What's that? You don't know who George Grant is? Well in that case, let me explain. The bio from his website states: "George Grant is the author of more than five dozen books, serves as pastor of Parish Presbyterian Church, and is the founder of King's Meadow Study Center, the Chalmers Fund, New College Franklin, the Comenius School, and Franklin Classical School."

As if that weren't enough, here are a few more things you might want to know about George Grant:

• George Grant got his Ph.D. at the age of 16…seconds.
• It’s no use debating George Grant. You’ve already lost.
• George Grant can judge a book by its cover.
• George Grant can have his cake and eat it too.
• George Grant has never been mistaken in his entire life. Never.
• George Grant makes bow-ties fashionable.
• George Grant can win them all.
• George Grant can make an omelet without breaking eggs.
• George Grant does not use spell check. If he happens to misspell a word, the editors of the OED will simply change the dictionary.
• George Grant can teach an old dog new tricks
• George Grant once had an argument with Chuck Norris... Chuck Norris’s head exploded.

Review Grab Bag #7

2012-01-03T15:23:00.005-05:00

THEOLOGY

Ashamed of the Gospel by John MacArthur

John MacArthur knocks this one out of the ballpark. In Ashamed of the Gospel, published in 1993, MacArthur discusses the market-driven church growth strategies that characterized the latter half of the 20th century. He shows that by having a pragmatic view of church growth, the church is placed on a slippery slope towards mushy doctrine and ineffectiveness in the world. I don’t know why I hadn’t read this book before, but I would say that it should be essential reading for today’s pastors. I would compare this book with J. Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism from the beginning of the 20th century. Though Machen was dealing with theological liberalism and MacArthur is dealing with methodological liberalism, the dangers of both are the same, and both books are as relevant today as they are when they were written.

5/5 stars

Paradox and Truth: Rethinking Van Til On the Trinity by Ralph Smith

I have mixed feelings about this book. This book is academic and intended to have a specific and narrow aim. Ralph Smith reflects on the current state of views on the Trinity within the Reformed world. He specifically deals with current critiques of Augustine’s classic conception of the Trinity and with Cornelius Plantinga’s social-Trinity formulation. He asks why the Trinitarian teachings of Cornelius Van Til have not received wider acknowledgment among theologians, and goes on to show how Van Til places the Trinity at the center of Christian thought as an answer to the philosophical question of the one and the many.

According to Smith, the Trinity is often seen as a true and important doctrine of Christian belief, but ultimately of no practical relevance to the Christian life. He goes on to show that Van Til’s conception of the Trinity, influenced by Kuyper and Bavink, affects every aspect of life for a Christian and marks a distinct difference in practice from non-Trinitarian religions.

The only complaint I have about this book it Smith’s use and abuse of logic. Many people have criticized Van Til for teaching that the Trinity is ultimately a contradiction. While Smith does not believe this to be the case, he does think that a reliance on Aristotelian logic is detrimental to thinking about the Trinity. Van Til, rather than using language that avoids the appearance of contradiction, uses language that exaggerates the seeming problem. Smith states out that syllogistic logic relies on the idea of fixed categories and a perfect language. As we cannot have perfect knowledge of God, our categories cannot be fully known and any attempt to apply this sort of logic to God ultimately fails.

I disagree on this point. Whether one has any knowledge of absolute categories is irrelevant to whether the law of non-contradiction works. If I were to say: “I am mad and I am not mad,” then I could avoid a true contradiction if in the first use of mad I mean “angry” and in the second use I mean “insane”. No contradiction here. However, if I mean the exact same thing by the word “mad” each time, then what I have said must be untrue because it is a contradiction.

There is a definite distinction between something that is illogical, i.e. contradictory, and something that is mysterious. I would never want to say that there is a true, unequivocal contradiction in the Godhead. This is why the doctrine of the Trinity is normally formulated as “One essence, three persons”. We don’t have an actual understanding of how this works, and in fact the people that think they understand it are usually the heretics. However this formulation does a good job of showing, though we cannot fully grasp this mysterious doctrine, it is ultimately resolved in the being of God and is not an absolute contradiction.

Now if Van Til says that God is one person and yet three persons, and then stipulates that these are not absolute Aristotelian categories but rather cannot be thought of apart from instantational and associational ideas, I am fine with that. We can say that the word “person” does not represent the same term with the exact same extension each time, because we are not dealing with absolute knowable categories. Let’s just not pretend that we have violated the law of non-contradiction somehow and that logic is therefore not useful. We have simply added stipulations that prevent this formulation from being truly contradictory, and left the mystery intact.

3/5 stars

From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution by Peter Leithart

From Silence to Song is an excellent book. Leithart examines the Davidic Tabernacle as distinct from the earlier Mosaic Tabernacle and the later Temple of Solomon. David introduced various innovations into the worship of the tabernacle, including instruments and music, and he created a number of new offices for the Levites in the tabernacle service. However, all of these innovations can be seen as typological applications of previous commandments concerning the tabernacle worship. In the final chapter, Leithart argues against a wooden, literalistic application of the Regulative Principle of Worship often employed in conservative Presbyterian churches, and advocates a more Biblical idea of Bible-informed worship that he calls Regulation-by-Analogy.

5/5 stars

Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic

This was a very short book, which constitutes a pep-talk for the down and out mom of little ones. Rachel Jankovic shares her parenting experiences while encouraging mothers to a parenting style full of grace rather than unattainable expectations. I can see this being a great help for many moms.

5/5 stars

Review Grab Bag # 6

2011-12-31T15:08:00.001-05:00

HISTORY

The Roman Republic by Michael Crawford

The Roman Republic by Michael Crawford seeks to give an overview of the time period of Roman history between 390 BC to the time of Julius Caesar. The book is less than 300 pages long and packs a ton of information in that little space. As far as getting a pile of facts about the Roman Republic goes, this book is worth a read. However, there were many times when I felt like I was simply reading through lists of names and events with little or no context. Thankfully many of the names were familiar from reading through Livy, but for someone looking for an introduction to the Roman Republic, this books would be, on the one hand, not detailed enough, and, on the other hand, confusing precisely because of this lack of detail.

3/5 stars

Fyodor Dostoevsky by Peter Leithart

Before reading this book, I knew roughly three things about Dostoevsky:
1) he was Russian, 2) he wrote Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, and 3) he was a Christian. That’s about it. Leithart’s book helped me to get to know Dostoevsky the man a bit, and see how his life shaped his work. I couldn’t get used to the format of the book, however. It is not intended to be historical fiction, but unlike a normal history book, the story is told within the frame of a fictionalized conversation between Dostoevsky and a friend. Having read Leithart’s phenomenal book on Constantine last year, I was hoping for something similar here, albeit on a smaller scale. Maybe this is a common characteristic of the “Christian Encounters” series of biographies published by Thomas Nelson. As I said, this book gave me a start on Dostoevsky and his life, but I think at some point I’ll read the more academic biographies listed by Leithart in his bibliography and avoid this series in the future.

3/5 stars

HOLMES

Ah, Sherlock Holmes. After this year, I only need to read The Valley of Fear and The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes to complete all of the Holmes short stories and novels. There’s nothing like a Sherlock Holmes story for a nice relaxing read.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
This was a great collection of stories that shows a more human side to Holmes than some of the earlier ones. Here’s my rundown on the stories in this collection with some random observations:

“The Silver Blaze”: An awesome Sherlock Holmes story. One of the best.
“The Yellow Face”: This was a not-so-good story. Holmes doesn’t detect anything at all. The premise would make a great short story/novella without Holmes, but Holmes is totally unnecessary to the plot.

“The Stock-Broker’s Clerk”: This was a good story with a nice reveal.
“The Gloria Scott” This was Holmes’ first case. Like the Yellow face, it seems to be Arthur Conan Doyle’s attempt to write an exciting story and attach Holmes’s name to it, though Holmes is totally unnecessary to the story.

“The Musgrave Ritual” This was really exciting. It could have been turned into a novel like A Study in Scarlet with a little more stuff. There is a great description of Holmes and Watson and their lifestyle:

“An anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friend Sherlock Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical of mankind, and although also he affected a certain quiet primness of dress, he was none the less in his personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction. Not that I am in the least conventional in that respect myself. The rough-and-tumble work in Afghanistan, coming on the top of a natural Bohemianism of disposition, has made me rather more lax than befits a medical man. But with me there is a limit, and when I find a man who keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece, then I begin to give myself virtuous airs. I have always held, too, that pistol practice should be distinctly an open-air pastime; and when Holmes, in one of his queer humors, would sit in an arm-chair with his hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic V. R. done in bullet-pocks, I felt strongly that neither the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was improved by it.”

“The Reigate Puzzle”: This was awesome! It has all the elements of a perfect Holmes mystery. One of my favorites ever!

“The Crooked Man”: This one is okay, but mostly for the backstory.

“The Resident Patient”: This was another great one. Holmes is really great in this one.

“The Greek Interpreter”: This was a great story, but it suffers from a severe lack of Holmes.

“The Naval Treaty”: This was another really good story.

“The Final Problem”: This story is the result of Doyle's boredom with his character. He wanted to conveniently dispose of Holmes. I wouldn’t mind this at all, especially since I’ve already read the story where he returns, due to the pressure of popular demand on Doyle. However, all the interesting parts of the story are either deduced by Watson or told as off-screen events. Holmes’s meeting with Moriarty and his final struggle with him at the falls are all secondhand accounts, which makes the story much less exciting than it could be.

4/5 stars

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

This story, wherein Holmes sets out to solve the mystery of a supernatural demon-dog, which is plaguing a particular family, is the essence of Sherlock Holmes. This book contains everything that makes a Holmes story great, and is the best of the novels I’ve read so far.

5/5 stars

Review Grab Bag # 5

2011-12-26T11:09:00.003-05:00

The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece by Paul Cartledge

When you want to talk about the Spartans, there's probably no man in the world as knowledgeable as Paul Cartledge. As such, this was a great overview of the history of Sparta, jam-packed with information. The timeline at the front of the book is an excellent resource and will have me taking this book from the shelf again and again. There was an unevenness of tone created by what appeared to be Cartledge's attempt to write a book of interest to scholars and laymen alike. As such, it's not quite as engaging as his "Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities" which was written for a popular audience, and on the other hand there were times when I wanted to see scholarly footnotes on every page instead of those annoying endnotes that I have to keep flipping back and forth for. Also the Appendix on the debate over foxhunting is pretty humorous for me, an American, to find at the end of a history book. I'm sure it is very relevant to its intended British readers.

Overall, I feel like I have a much better grasp of Spartan culture and history now and expect this book to help me whenever I teach Thucydides.

4/5 stars

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre is the classic story about a girl who starts life in difficult circumstances, overcomes them through her education, finds a good situation in life, and falls in love with the man of her dreams. Sounds romantic, right? Oh wait, except that the man of her dreams is an emotionally and verbally abusive serial-adulterer and would-be bigamist. And also, you, the reader, are supposed to feel sorry for him and like him. Look, I don’t care that Mr. Rochester’s wife is nutters. I don’t care that his family pressured him into the marriage. You, Rochester, entered into the contract of marriage for better or worse and you, sir, should be a man of your word. Rather than a cad and a liar. Which is what you are. I’ve rarely reacted with such strong disgust against any literary character as I have Mr. Rochester, and it is beyond me how Bronte expects him to be a likeable character on any level.

Apparently, I'm not the only one.

3/5 stars

The Iliad by Homer (Richmond Lattimore, trans.)

What can one say about The Iliad? If there is such a thing as a canon of literature, then this has to be the book of Genesis. This is my third time through The Iliad and I find something new with each re-reading. The story loses none of its earnestness and human interest. Western Literature, in the best sense, begins here and subsequently only occasionally equals or surpasses the high bar set by Homer.

5/5 stars

The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia Hale

The reason Saturday Night Live movies are rarely funny is that they take a clever premise that makes a hilarious 5 minute sketch and try to stretch the one joke out to 2 hours. Although "The Peterkin Papers" is a predecessor to Amelia Bedilia, it feels like someone took the one joke of an Amelia Bedilia book (hey, there's this person who comically misunderstands things), applies the joke to an entire family, and stretches it out to 200 pages. The result is uneven and thin. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's simply tiresome.

2/5 stars

My Man Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse

This book contains 4 of the best Bertie and Jeeves stories I've read. (5 stars)

It also contains 4 stories about a chappie named Reggie Pepper. These are essentially what a Bertie and Jeeves story would be like minus Jeeves. Without the valet who always endeavors to give satisfaction, the stories are a bit lacking in the full-of-beans department. In a word, inferior. (3 stars)

Overall average 4/5 stars

Review Grab Bag # 4

2011-12-26T07:45:00.003-05:00

In a previous post this year, I discussed the Abbott brothers’ “Makers of History” series. At the time, I had only read the biography of Alexander the Great. Throughout the rest of the year, I continued to read more books in the series. The remarks I made about Alexander the Great more or less hold true for all these books: they are written for young people (the authors gave the age range of 15-25 years old), they are general and broad, and they are well-written and exciting to read. The purpose of these books is to build a big-picture view of the great people and events in history that can be filled in later with more thorough study. Below, I’m just going to make brief remarks about anything that struck me in particular about each of the books:

Romulus by Jacob Abbott

This was the weakest book that I’ve read in this series. Let’s face it; there isn’t much historical information about Romulus, or many sources from which to draw information. As such, the author discusses the legendary character of the stories he is about to tell and then starts with the birth of Aeneas and continues through the death of Romulus. Essentially this is nothing more than a summary of the Aeneid and the first book of Livy. Nothing of great interest here.

3/5 stars

Hannibal by Jacob Abbott

I really enjoyed this one. I’ve read books XXI-XXX of Livy’s history which covers the Second Punic War in which Hannibal was the main player. In this way most of this book was just useful review for me. However, Abbott also details what happened to Hannibal after the Punic War and how he met his end. It was very interesting and reminded me of Gandalf’s statement about Saruman in Lord of the Rings, “You might yet have turned away from folly and evil, and have been of service. But you chose to stay, and gnaw the ends of your old plots.” Hannibal did a lot of plot knowing at the end of his life.

4/5 stars

Julius Caesar Jacob Abbott

This was a competent overview of Caesar’s life. One of the great benefits of these books is to see how the story of one man fits together with the other events in his lifetime. I especially liked seeing how Caesar was tied to the preceding struggle between Marius and Sulla and how it affected the public’s perception of him. Beware the Ides of March!

4/5 stars

Cleopatra by Jacob Abbott

This was a really great book. It covers some of the same material as the Julius Caesar bio, but learning about Cleopatra’s family tree and the terrible, corrupt people from whom she descended helped to understand her story a lot better. Which reminds me of a joke: Q. What was the most difficult legal question for the Ptolemies of Egypt? A. If I divorce her, is she still my sister?

5/5 stars

William the Conqueror by Jacob Abbott

Except for the events leading directly up to the Battle of Hastings this was all new to me. A good overview from Rollo the Dane to the end of William’s life.

4/5 stars

Richard I by Jacob Abbott

This was simply fascinating. The history of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard’s mother, shows just what a powerful, resourceful, and fairly corrupt woman could accomplish in those days. With regard to Richard’s father, Henry, it’s amazing to what depths a corrupt king could hold on to power. While some biographers hold Richard I up as a saint, and some excoriate him as a scoundrel, Abbott does a good job of presenting an unbiased view of his life. Richard comes across as sympathetic, at least to me, despite his many, many faults. This book also served to show me how little resemblance a certain G.A. Henty book bears to actually history.

5/5 stars

Margaret of Anjou by Jacob Abbott

Jacob Abbott takes the War of the Roses and makes it easy to understand, while not dumbing it down. Is there any higher praise I can give?

4/5 stars

Richard III by Jacob Abbott

This one obviously covers a lot of the same material as the Margaret of Anjou book. Richard was the younger brother of Edward who defeated Margaret’s husband Henry VI and took his throne. Contra Shakespeare, Richard III was not a deformed hunchback, was not any more of a scoundrel than his brothers or any of the Lancastrians for that matter, and probably didn’t have the two princes murdered.

4/5 stars

Queen Elizabeth by Jacob Abbott

Wow, what a rough life. I certainly would not have wanted to be an heir to the throne after Henry VIII. Not much to say about this one other than the fact that Elizabeth was intelligent, strong, and sometimes cruel. This is a balanced and engaging portrait of Good Queen Bess.

Mary Queen of Scots by Jacob Abbott
I don’t care if you are a Protestant; if you don’t feel sympathy for Mary Queen of Scots, you’re not human. It’s amazing how Abbott, a Protestant, is able to display such even-handedness when dealing with the issues surrounding the fight between Protestantism and Catholicism in Scotland and England.

4/5 stars

Charles I by Jacob Abbott

And that, children, is where Presbyterians come from… This was a very interesting history. Charles doesn’t come across necessarily as a bad man, but an incompetent man. It cost him his head.

4/5 stars

Peter the Great by Jacob Abbott

This was absolutely fascinating. I know nothing about Russian history prior to Tsar Nicholas II and the Revolution. The life of Peter the Great is full of political intrigue, schemes, and murders. However, Peter managed to create a navy for Russia and to move Russia closer to the Western world. This legacy has left mixed results.

4/5 stars

An Aristotle Christmas Story

2011-12-24T14:37:00.003-05:00

Each year, on the Saturday before Christmas, Queen’s College at Oxford celebrates their annual Boar’s Head Feast. The feast involves the ceremonial entry of the boar’s head followed by the singing of the Boar’s Head carol:

The boar’s head in hand bring I,
Bedeck'd with bays and rosemary.
I pray you, my masters, be merry
Quot estis in convivio
Caput apri defero
Reddens laudes Domino

The boar's head, as I understand,
Is the rarest dish in all this land,
Which thus bedeck'd with a gay garland
Let us servire cantico
Caput apri defero
Reddens laudes Domino

Our steward hath provided this
In honor of the King of Bliss;
Which, on this day to be served is
In Reginensi atrio
Caput apri defero
Reddens laudes Domino

“But what does this all have to do with Aristotle?” you may ask. Quite right; I promised you an Aristotle Christmas story. Well, there is an old legend that explains the origin of the Boar’s Head Feast.

A Queen’s College student, staying over at Oxford during the Christmas holiday, was strolling through the woods with a copy of Aristotle’s works, trying unsuccessfully to understand the philosopher. Suddenly he came upon a wild boar, which, feeling no particular affection for the academic type, charged him open-mouthed with tusks bared. Luckily, the student put his copy of Aristotle to good use. The chroniclers tell us, “With great presence of mind, and the exclamation ‘Graecum est,’ the collegian thrust the philosopher’s Ethics down his assailant’s throat, and having choked the savage with the sage, went on his way rejoicing.” Luckily the vicious boar found Aristotle to be as indigestible as the student did, and Queen’s College was provided with a great Christmas feast.

So if you're intent on getting a great classical education, remember, not only does Aristotle improve your mind; Aristotle saves lives!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Review Grab Bag # 3

2011-12-22T00:52:00.005-05:00

The Man Called CASH: The Life, Love and Faith of an American Legend by Steve Turner

After seeing the movie “Walk the Line” with Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix, I wanted to learn more about the life of Johnny Cash. What I learned is that the movie is so loosely based on Cash’s life as to be useless for learning about the real man. Also, Cash’s real life was much more interesting and exciting than the movie .

This is an excellent biography and shows not only the broad outline of Cash’s life, but his spiritual struggles, his intellectual interests and pursuits. It also explores his legacy as one of the greatest singers/songwriters of the twentieth century.

4/5 stars

The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson (Arthur G. Brodeur, trans.)

Unlike The Poetic (or Elder) Edda which is a collection of actual Norse poems, The Prose (or Younger) Edda is a treatise on how to write skaldic poetry. Along the way, there are many stories from Norse Mythology. Did you ever want to know where the ability to write poetry comes from? Apparently Odin, in the form of a bird, drank the mead of poetry that the dwarves guarded and flew back to Asgard, where he spit it out into containers. Great poets are those upon whom the gods bestow mead from these containers. Of course during his flight, some mead leaked out of Odin’s butt as well. This is what bad poets drink to get their inspiration.

Anyway, if you love Norse mythology and poetry and want to go back to some of our earliest sources, this is a great book to read.

5/5 stars

Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
“The progress of humanity is like climbing an endless ladder; it is impossible to climb higher without first taking the lower steps. Thus, the Aryan had to take the road to which reality directed him and not the one that would appeal to the imagination of a modern pacifist…Hence it is no accident that the first cultures arose in places where the Aryan, in his encounters with lower peoples, subjugated them and bent them to his will. They then became the first technical instrument in the service of a developing culture.” -Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 295

Intriguing and reprehensible. These are the two words which best describe Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler’s personal manifesto written while in prison after the Beer Hall Putsch. In this book, Hitler outlines his childhood, his political philosophy and how he became the leader of the Nazi party.

As a child he did not want to be a politician; he wanted to be an artist. His mean old father misunderstood him and poor Adolf had a hard childhood. Then after his primary education, he was rejected by the mean old art schools. After a time of turmoil in his life, he came to some definite ideas about the world: parliament is worthless, democracy is Jewish trash, and an aristocracy of the powerful is necessary. Nature and evolution have decreed that some races are superior, and Hitler is terribly concerned about keeping races separate. In fact, he lauds America for doing just that.

Hitler’s overriding dream is for German ascendancy (except that he was Austrian. Oops.) He outlines three solutions to the burgeoning population of Germany. First, he mentions overseas colonization. This, he says, is too expensive and unstable. Second, he discusses better cultivation of the land to produce more food. This, however, still sets a finite barrier to population growth. Finally he hits upon a third idea: “Let’s just take over all the countries around us! Yeah that’s it!” (I’m paraphrasing a bit here.) The thing to note is that Hitler is saying all of this IN A PUBLISHED BOOK FIFTEEN YEARS BEFORE WORLD WAR II! And yet people acted really surprised by Hitler’s actions when he came to power.

One final thing about this one. Many people today try to connect Hitler to Christianity in some way. This is simply not possible. Throughout the book his materialistic and Darwinian views are at the forefront. He does say that he would like to co-opt Christianity in order to advance nationalistic ideals, but he also hates any priests or pastors who won’t go along with this idea. Hitler viewed religion as a tool to be used, but was certainly not a religious man himself in any way.

In conclusion, Mein Kampf is a fascinating study of self-aggrandizement. According to Hitler, Hitler is brilliant. Everyone else is stupid and weak. Hitler is always the man for the job. No one else is. This sort of megalomania and narcissism is not enjoyable to read. It is important, however, in order to understand one of the darkest events in our modern world.

2/5 stars

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

This is the stuff that nightmares are made of. It is certainly a chilling and frightening vision of a dystopian world. Many of the words and phrases used in this book have passed into the cultural vernacular: big brother, newspeak, etc. It also contains good broad warnings about the erosion of freedom in society.

However, it’s not the most convincing dystopian future I’ve seen, and the plot has holes a mile wide. None of the characters are remotely believable; they are just pawns in Orwell’s tract against totalitarianism. The book is also full of exposition. Lots and lots of exposition.

Is this a great book? Not at all. The plot, characters, and setting are simply there to thinly disguise Orwell’s lectures. Should you read it? Yes, you probably should for cultural literacy and for warnings against allowing government to become too powerful. I would like to say that the book is too far-fetched in this post-Cold War era to be necessary as a warning. But then I look at Sweden…

3/5 stars

Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

This book was a bit off the beaten path for me, but I read it at my wife’s insistence. She thought that I should read some practical books so that I could develop hobbies and interests like a normal human other than Ancient Near Eastern history, Medieval literature, Norse literature, Greek and Roman history, etc. She also thought that I should probably read a book or two about sports so that I could have the ability to converse in the universal language of my fellow American males. I have yet to follow through on that suggestion.

Anyway, back to square-foot gardens. We had done a small garden for several years and had never had much success. This year, following the square foot method, we decreased the size of our garden by about 75% and probably tripled the amount of vegetables we got out of it. So, needless to say, I’m a convert.

One word of warning, however. In the edition I read, Bartholomew suggests making paths through your garden with planks of wood in order to avoid having to weed the walkways. We found out first hand that planks of wood lying in the dirt are like flashing neon “Welcome” signs for black widow spiders! I’ve heard that newer editions of the book don’t make the same suggestion.

3/5 stars

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

This was my third time reading The Communist Manifesto. One thing that strikes me whenever I read this is that Karl Marx saw some real problems and then proposed the worst possible solutions for them. This stems from his view that the history of society is deterministic. And that view in turn stems from the fact that Marx has only the most simplistic view of history with no nuances whatsoever. Therefore, when he sees a bleeding finger, he determines that the best way to deal with it is to cut the whole arm off. Someone who proposes a band-aid or stitches is simply a silly conservative and the inevitable march of history is against him.

It’s also interesting to see how many of his proposals have become part of our modern society and are even defended by so-called conservative thinkers.

2/5 stars

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

My children hate Almanzo. Don’t get me wrong, they loved hearing the book read out loud. They liked the characters and the story. But, oh Almanzo. Almanzo has become my fatherly go-to example for any and all situations.

“Do you think Almanzo got to drink soda all the time? He didn’t even have soda!”
“Did Almanzo complain that it was too hot outside? No, and he was working in the fields.”
“Would Almanzo cry over a little bump like that?”

You get the idea.

Overall, I liked this book. However, it wasn’t as good as Little House in the Big Woods or Little House on the Prairie. I think this is because Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote those other books from her own personal experiences, and she wrote this book about her husband’s childhood. There is definitely a second-hand feel to it, a lack of immediacy, that makes it different from the other books. Also, since Pa Ingalls was my favorite character in the other books, I did miss him here.

3/5 stars

On the Character of a True Theologian by Herman Witsius

This is a very short, but invaluable book about the nature of a theologian. The lessons here, however, can just as easily be applied to Christian teachers as well. My favorite quote from the book is, “...No one teaches well unless he has first learned well; no one learns well unless he learns in order to teach. And both learning and teaching are vain and unprofitable unless accompanied by practice.”

5/5 stars

Review Grab Bag # 2

2011-12-20T22:34:00.003-05:00

I Will Repay by Baroness Orczy

I really enjoyed The Scarlet Pimpernel. I also liked the sequel, The Elusive Pimpernel. These books are goofy and silly, but they work because the author clearly knows what she's writing and avoids any pretensions to the contrary.

Unfortunately, it appears that Baroness Orczy wanted to overstep her limits in I Will Repay. The story centers on a young girl who is caught between opposing forces, her faithfulness to her father, and her love for the man she has sworn to kill. Dickens could have taken this story and produced something truly great. In Orczy's hands, however, it comes off as flat, one-dimensional melodrama.

But what about Sir Percy Blakeney? Surely his witty foppery and brilliant strategies make it all worthwhile and fun! Sadly, the Scarlet Pimpernel himself is only an incidental character throughout most of the book. He pops in once or twice, and then shows up in the last two chapters for the resolution. This would be like going to see a James Bond movie and finding that, apart from a couple of cameos, the title character doesn't actually do anything until the last ten minutes of the film.

If I want to read moving human drama set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, I will read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. If I want to read exciting and intelligent adventure set during the French Revolution, I will read Scaramouche by Raphael Sabatini. If I want to read an action thriller set during the French Revolution, I will read a Scarlet Pimpernel book.

Allow me to illustrate with an admittedly nerdy analogy. There is room in the world for movies that are beautiful, moving and thoughtful like Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. There is room in the world for movies that are fun, perhaps even a bit serious, but with tongue firmly in cheek like the 2008 The Incredible Hulk. There is no room in the world for Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk, which tries to achieve both and thus falls flat due to a lack of self-awareness.

In the same way, there is room in the world for A Tale of Two Cities and for The Scarlet Pimpernel, but there is no room for a book like I Will Repay.

2/5 stars

Alexander the Great by Paul Cartledge

First of all, Paul Cartledge is one of the world’s foremost experts on ancient Greece, and is an extremely careful and scholarly writer. As such, I knew before I even began that this book would be great. This book is not actually a biography of Alexander the Great in the traditional sense of the word. Rather, it is an introduction to the historiography of Alexander the Great. I made sure this summer to read a narrative biography of Alexander so that I would be prepared to read this book, and I’m glad I did. Cartledge assumes that the reader already knows the story of Alexander the Great, and spends his time dealing with the thorny issues that arise from conflicting sources and the seemingly self-contradictory character or many of Alexander’s actions.

Chapters are devoted to Alexander’s interactions with his fellow Macedonians, with the other Greeks, and with the Persians. His relationships, campaigns and policies are dissected in order to understand why he did the things he did. Cartledge always offers the various dominant theories concerning the various subjects and interacts with the scholarship of each. Near the end of the book, Cartledge shifts to the numerous legends that have sprung up around Alexander over the years and even reviews some historical fiction novels about Alexander, giving his take on the accuracy of each one.

One other thing that must be mentioned is that this book has an amazing bibliography. Cartledge lists all of the published primary sources, all of the major overviews of Alexander’s life and career, and the specific sources that relate to each chapter of the book. In addition, he reviews each source individually to give the reader a good idea of what to read or buy in order to systematically conquer the daunting amount of material out there. This is an excellent introduction and resource for further study.

5/5 stars.

Those Terrible Middle Ages: Debunking the Myths by Régine Pernoud

Author Régine Pernoud worked for years in the French National Archives dealing with documents from the Medieval period, and dealing with the ignorance of the majority of the populace concerning the Middle Ages. She shares one anecdote wherein she was giving an interview on Joan of Arc, her area of expertise. The interviewer asked her how we can know so much about the trial of Joan of Arc, to which Pernoud replied that we have the court records. The interviewer was astonished. “But then, they wrote everything down?” She told him that they did. “Then in order to publish it there were people who recopied everything?” Again she responded in the affirmative. The interviewer’s mind was blown. “It’s hard to believe that those people could do things so carefully.”

The popular conception of the Middle Ages is not unlike the portrayal in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The truth, however, is quite different. Did you know, for example, that after the fall of the Roman Empire slavery decreased and disappeared during the Middle Ages? It was after the revival of Roman law in the Renaissance and during the Age of Exploration that chattel slavery came into being once again. Did you know that the Church fought against arranged marriages, that women could often vote, exercise ruling power, and ply a trade, and that medieval kings, with the possible exception of the Carolingians, cannot be considered true monarchs because they did not wield absolute power? Did you know that all crusade preachers were required to read the Koran before recruiting for the crusades or going to the Holy Land?

Another interesting thing is that we moderns condemn many institutions and practices of the Middle Ages without realizing that we are not so different ourselves. Pernoud relates a television interview she watched once in which a journalist was questioning a representative of the Red Cross about countries that refuse to allow the Red Cross to enter and investigate human rights. The reporter wondered if there was a way to force countries to allow the Red Cross to enter. Upon finding out that the Red Cross had no such power, the reporter went on to ask if civilized nations could not ban or set up sanctions and embargos against nations which would not allow Red Cross investigators to enter. Pernoud points out that in a few sentences the reporter had invented the Inquisition, Excommunication, and Interdict, three things for which the Middle Ages are excoriated.

In conclusion this is an excellent book for anyone interested in the Middle Ages, and especially good for Christians who have been poisoned by secular propaganda about the backwardness and intolerance of the age of Christendom.

5/5 stars

The Vampyre by John William Polidori
This book was a product of the same wild sleepover that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein. Unfortunately, Polidori did not have the talents of Shelley, and so this story is no Frankenstein. The story is about a young nobleman who decides to travel with an enigmatic aristocrat who, of course, turns out to be a vampire. The vampire seduces young women and ruins them completely before killing them. It’s interesting that the book was originally attributed to Lord Byron, as it is pretty clear that Polidori intends the vampire to be a thinly veiled version of Byron himself, who, like most of the Romantic poets, was a real sleazeball. The only thing terribly interesting about this story, however, is that it later served as an inspiration for Bram Stoker's much better vampire novel, Dracula.

3/5 stars

Traveller’s Rest by James Enge
This short novella about a character named Morlock the Maker was much better than I expected given some of the reviews that I read on goodreads.. It's pure pulp-fantasy of course so don't go in looking for the next Tolkien or anything like that. But this was a fun story, and I may read more of James Enge’s fiction in the future.

4/5 stars

Medieval Quiz

2011-12-19T23:21:00.002-05:00

How well do you know the culture and times of the Middle Ages? Is your knowledge accurate or is it based mostly on myth and urban legend? Take this quiz to find out!

1. During the 354 years in which it was active, from 1480-1834, the Spanish Inquisition was responsible for the deaths of:

a. 3 million – 5 million people
b. 300,000 – 500,000 people
c. 30,000 – 50,000 people
d. 3,000 – 5,000 people

2. Scholars of the day opposed Columbus’s 1492 voyage across the Atlantic because:

a. They believed the Earth was flat.
b. They believed that God would punish Columbus for his overweening pride.
c. They believed Columbus’s calculation of the Earth’s circumference to be incorrect.
d. They believed that sea serpents would sink the ship before it could circumnavigate the globe.

3. The medieval church condemned Galileo to death for:

a. Teaching that the Earth is round and not flat.
b. Denying the existence of God.
c. Teaching that the Earth orbits the sun.
d. None of the above.

4. True or False: The jus primae noctis gave a feudal lord the first right to sleep with any of the newlywed maidens of his fiefdom on her wedding night..

5. Which statement best reflects Western knowledge of Islam during the time of the Crusades?:

a. Crusaders believed that Muslims worshipped a god called Mohammed.
b. All preachers of the Crusades had read the entire Koran.
c. Muslims were believed to be involved in polytheistic worship of ancient pagan deities.
d. Only a few of the bishops of the day knew many of the teachings of Islam.

6. True or False: Medieval people thought bathing was unhealthy and did it as infrequently as possible.

7. Which was not a result of the decay of Roman law after the fall of the Roman Empire?:

a. Women obtained more freedom in society, gaining in various places the right to vote, own property, ply a trade, and rule politically.
b. The institution of slavery gradually disappeared.
c. General disorder and lawlessness reigned.

8. One example of the superiority of Muslim culture during the Middle Ages is:

a. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
b. The development of Arabic numerals.
c. Superior fleets of ships.
d. The medicinal arts cultivated by Arab physicians.
e. None of the above

ANSWERS

1. d. 3,000 – 5,000 people

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Though the Spanish Inquisition is often portrayed as a bloodbath, only 3,000-5,000 people were executed during its 354 years. This gives an average of about 14 people per year being executed. This is slightly lower than the number of criminals executed in the state of Texas last year, 17 (2010).

Compare this to the estimated 16,000 – 40,000 who were killed in France during the Reign of Terror from Sep. 5, 1793 – Jul. 2, 1794. If we take a low estimate of the Reign of Terror in France and a high estimate of the Inquisition that means that the French Revolution killed more than 3 times as many people in under a year as the Inquisition killed in 354 years. If we take a high-end estimate of the Reign of Terror, then the French Revolution killed 8 times as many people in less than a year as the Inquisition did in 354 years.

Another little known fact is that the Spanish Inquisition ended witch trials in Spain long before the rest of Europe gave up burning witches. Apparently very few witch trials rose to the level of scientific proof demanded by the Inquisitors.

Sources:
H. Rawlings, The Spanish Inquisition
Gustav Henningsen The Database of the Spanish Inquisition
Charles Williams Witchcraft

2. c. They believed Columbus’s calculation of the Earth’s circumference to be incorrect.

The knowledge that the earth is roughly spherical dates to the 3rd century B.C. No scholar in Columbus’s time believed in a flat earth. This was a myth created by Washington Irving in his fanciful 19th century biography of Columbus. The issue at stake was the circumference of the earth. Eratosthenes, a 3rd century B.C. librarian at Alexandria, accurately calculated the circumference of the Earth and the tilt of the Earth’s axis using mathematical principles. In Columbus’s day, Eratosthenes’s measurements were accepted by scholars. Columbus, however, used the measurements of another ancient cartographer, Strabo, who estimated the circumference of the Earth to be much smaller. Columbus reasoned that he could easily sail west from Europe and hit Asia. His detractors said that the distance would be too far. His detractors were right in this case, and if a previously unknown continent hadn’t been in the way, Columbus and his men would most certainly have died a horrible death at sea.

Source:

http://www.bede.org.uk/flatearth.htm

3. d. none of the above.

There are two problems here.

a) Galileo was not condemned to death.

b) Galileo’s teachings were condemned, but not by the medieval church. Galileo’s famous trial occurred in A.D. 1633. By this time in history Shakespeare had come and gone, the Reformation had occurred over a century before, and the Jamestown Colony had already been established in America. Despite the fact that everyone tries to pin Galileo’s trial on the medievals, it was actually a very modern world that condemned the heliocentric theory, which theory would not be completely accepted until well into the 1700s.

Source:
This is common historical knowledge. Just look it up in any encyclopedia.

4. False

Despite what the movie “Braveheart” would have you think, there is no evidence that such a law ever existed. The idea of such a law was attacked by Voltaire and others during the 1700s, but it is well known that on the eve of the French Revolution all sorts of horrible things were attributed to the “Feudal” period. This is despite the fact that most of the harsh laws under which the French peasantry suffered were established after the Middle Ages in the 1500s and 1600s, well after the end of the feudal age.

Source:
The Medieval Chastity Belt: A Myth-Making Process by Albrecht Classen. Chapter 3

5. b. All preachers of the Crusades had read the entire Koran.

Peter the Venerable had the Talmud and the Koran translated in 1141, and it was afterwards required for all preachers of the Crusades to study the Koran.

Source:
Those Terrible Middle Ages!: Debunking the Myths by Régine Pernoud, page 135.

6. False.

Medieval people, including commoners, frequently bathed, washed their hands after getting them dirty and washed their clothing.

Source:
The Ties That Bound by Barbara A. Hanawalt, page 61

7. c. General disorder and lawlessness reigned.

It is true that slavery disappeared in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire, and that women enjoyed unprecedented freedom in society due to the Christian principles of the Middle Ages.

Source:
Those Terrible Middle Ages!: Debunking the Myths by Régine Pernoud, see especially pages 85-88 and 109-112

8. e. None of the above.

The Dome of the Rock was designed by Byzantine architects, so-called Arabic numerals are actually Hindu in origin, Arabic fleets of ships were designed by Coptic shipwrights and mostly manned by Byzantine mercenaries, and most of the medicinal arts practiced by the Arab physicians were learned from Nestorian Christian centers of learning. None of these things arose from a primarily Islamic worldview and none are evidence of a sort of Arabic “civilization” which was opposed to a European “barbarism”.

Source:
God’s Battalions by Rodney Stark, chapter 3.

Review Grab Bag # 1

2011-12-19T13:37:00.007-05:00

In order to fulfill my New Year's Resolution for this year, I have to read 100 books and review them all. Well, it looks like I'm going to easily read the 100 books this year. Unfortunately, I'm way behind in reviewing them.

Enjoy therefore, the first of several Review Grab Bags full of mini reviews of books I've read this year.

The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott

The Talisman is a first-rate adventure novel by Sir Walter Scott, though not quite on par with his more famous Ivanhoe. The events center on the end of the Third Crusade, and the historical figures of the Crusaders are rendered wonderfully. As in many accounts from the medieval time onward, Saladin’s character is romanticized to a great degree, but the story wouldn’t work otherwise. One aspect of the ending, which is will not name in order to avoid spoilers, fell a bit flat with me, but overall I enjoyed the book very much and would recommend it to anyone interested in the time period of the Crusades.

5/5 Stars

How to be Free From Bitterness by Jim Wilson

This book had lots of good information and advice, but it seemed unfinished. I felt as if I was reading someone's notes on these topics rather than finished articles. Maybe someday Canon will send an editor through to make the book seem more cohesive and to polish up the prose a bit.

4/5 stars

Refuting Evolution by Jonathan Safarti

I found the first 5 chapters extremely compelling, and I felt the author did a good job of interacting with the literature of evolutionists. The latter half of the book seemed to get broader, too broad, and by the end it felt like the author was throwing random facts at his reader. For example, several pages are taken up with debunking the myth that medieval Christians believed the world to be flat, even though the work being critiqued admittedly does not make that claim. A good book overall, but it could have been more focused at some points.

3/5 stars

The Babylonians: An Introduction by Gwendolyn Leick

This was a really fun book to read. It was very broad and general in its scope, but at the same time scholarly. It also has a great bibliography.

5/5 stars

The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris
This book had everything I look for in a story. William Morris has taken the form of the Medieval Romance and perfected it.

5/5 stars

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl

Not as good as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," but still amusing in its own way.

3/5 stars

This Excites Me Greatly

2011-12-15T07:34:00.002-05:00

The Republic of Play-Doh Trailer

2011-12-11T21:23:00.002-05:00

A couple of my students made this. Because they're awesome!

God in the Small Things

2011-12-10T23:26:00.002-05:00

"He who knows that a certain person in disguise is the king, behaves towards him very differently to another who, only perceiving an ordinary man, treats him accordingly. In the same way the soul that recognises the will of God in every smallest event, and also in those that are most distressing and direful, receives all with an equal joy, pleasure and respect. It throws open all its doors to receive with honour what others fear and fly from with horror. The outward appearance may be mean and contemptible, but beneath this abject garb the heart discovers and honours the majesty of the king. The deeper the abasement of his entry in such a guise and in secret the more does the heart become filled with love. I cannot describe what the heart feels when it accepts the divine will in such humble, poor, and mean disguises. Ah! how the sight of God, poor and humble, lodged in a stable, lying on straw, weeping and trembling, pierced the loving heart of Mary! Ask the inhabitants of Bethlehem what they thought of the Child. You know what answer they gave, and how they would have paid court to Him had He been lodged in a palace surrounded by the state due to princes.

Then ask Mary and Joseph, the Magi and the Shepherds. They will tell you that they found in this extreme poverty an indescribable tenderness, and an infinite dignity worthy of the majesty of God. Faith is strengthened, increased and enriched by those things that escape the senses; the less there is to see, the more there is to believe. To adore Jesus on Thabor, to accept the will of God in extraordinary circumstances does not indicate a life animated by such great faith as to love the will of God in ordinary things and to adore Jesus on the Cross; for faith cannot be said to be real, living faith until it is tried, and has triumphed over every effort for its destruction. War with the senses enables faith to obtain a more glorious victory. To consider God equally good in things that are petty and ordinary as in those that are great and uncommon is to have a faith that is not ordinary, but great and extraordinary."

-from Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Tarzan of the Apes

2011-12-09T00:02:00.002-05:00

I still remember reading my first Edgar Rice Burroughs book as a kid. It was The Moon Maid, and it was given to me by my uncle. It was wonderful. I still have great memories of reading that book over and over again. I then progressed to Burroughs’ Carson of Venus series, but that was about it. For some reason I never read his most famous book, Tarzan of the Apes.

Well, now I’ve read it, and like everything else I’ve read by Burroughs, it is awesome. Of course it’s pure hack writing; Burroughs went on to write twenty-five, that’s right, TWENTY-FIVE , sequels to it. It’s pulpy melodrama to the core. The characters are one dimensional, the dialogue is stilted and the situations are absurd. Rudyard Kipling famously stated that Burroughs wrote Tarzan to “find out how bad a book he could write and get away with it.”

So why did I enjoy it so much? It is pure excitement and adventure, unencumbered by any restraints, and it is a great story. If it were not a gripping story, Tarzan would not be one of the most easily recognizable literary characters of the 20th century. Like Paula Deen’s bacon-wrapped, batter-dipped, deep-fried macaroni and cheese, critics could point to a lack of elegance and discernment in taste, but that still wouldn’t change the fact that it is a pile of warm cheesy goodness. Will I probably come back for another helping later? Yes. Yes I will.

4/5 stars

The day it is jocund and fine, so fine...

2011-12-07T15:17:00.003-05:00

"'Truly,' quoth he, 'the dear world is as fair here as in the woodland shades. Who calls it a vale of tears? Methinks it is but the darkness in our minds that bringeth gloom to the world.'"

-from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Holmes the Theologian

2011-11-25T21:43:00.003-05:00

"There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion," said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. "It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers."

-Sherlock Holmes in "The Naval Treaty" from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

"Job Creators"

2011-11-23T19:05:00.003-05:00

One day a rich CEO was riding in his limousine when he saw a man eating grass along the side of the road. He told the driver to stop. He got out and asked the man, "Why are you eating grass?"

The man replied, "Sir, with this economy, I can't find a job. I'm so poor, I can't afford a thing to eat."

So the CEO said, "Poor guy, come back to my house. I have work for you."

The man responded, "But I have a wife and three kids." The CEO told him to bring them along.

When they were all in the car, the poor man said, "Thank you so much for taking us back to your house; it is so kind of you."

The CEO replied, "Oh, you're going to love it there, the grass is a foot tall!"

"In the Bible" Quiz

2011-11-22T09:40:00.006-05:00

Sometimes as Christians we feel like we know the Bible extremely well. However, it is amazing how often cultural sayings and aphorisms get mixed up in our mind with the word of God. Below are fifteen sayings, only five of which are Bible quotations. See if you can find the correct five. The Bible quotations are from the NASB version so that the correct answers won't be obvious from the "thees" and "thous" of the KJV. (Answers are below the quiz. No cheating!)

A. This too shall pass

B. Spare the rod, spoil the child

C. A man is justified by works and not by faith alone

D. God helps those who help themselves

E. The Lord moves in mysterious ways

F. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever

G. Baptism now saves you

H. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his trouble no more

I. Money is the root of all evil

J. The lion shall lie down with the lamb.

K. May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine

L. Rejoice when a man dies and weep when a child is born

M. Give me neither poverty nor riches

N. Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

O. The woman took the apple and ate; and she gave also to her husband and he ate.

Answers:

A. Not in the Bible.
B. Not in the Bible. The Bible actually says: "He who withholds his rod hates his son" Prov. 13:24
C. Quote from James 2:24
D. Not in the Bible
E. Not in the Bible. This one is from a hymn by William Cowper.
F. Not in the Bible. This is from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
G. Quote from 1 Peter 3:21
H. Quote from Proverbs 31:7
I. Not in the Bible. The Bible actually says: "For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil" 1 Timothy 6:10
J. Not in the Bible. Isaiah 11:6 actually has the wolf and the lamb hanging out. The lion is with the calf.
K. Quote from Song of Solomon 1:2
L. Not in the Bible. This is a Buddhist saying.
M. Quote from Proverbs 30:8
N. Not in the Bible. This is a quote from Shakespeare's "Hamlet".
O. Not in the Bible. The Bible never says it was an apple.

You Don't Know Jack

2011-11-15T09:23:00.002-05:00

In my continuing quest to review all the books I’ve read this year, I’m going to tackle all the C. S. “Jack” Lewis related books in one go. I’ll start with the books by Lewis himself.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis 5/5 stars

How have I been an evangelical all my life and never read this book? It’s practically considered required reading in many circles, and now I understand why. Lewis was not a great theologian, but he was a great human being and a great popularizer of theology. In a time that desperately needs more Christians who are both thoughtful and passionate about their faith, Mere Christianity paints with broad strokes the image of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis 4/5 stars

I mentioned above that Lewis is not a great theologian. Nowhere have I seen this more clearly than in his Reflections on the Psalms. Seriously, Lewis, you dropped the ball on this one. Lewis finds the Psalms unsuitable for public worship and containing many examples of sinful attitudes on the part of the Psalmist toward his enemies. However, as always, Lewis demonstrates a piercing understanding of human self-delusion regarding sin that ranks right up there with Dante. The book has its sublime moments though which make it absolutely worth reading, like most anything by Lewis.

Through Joy and Beyond by Walter Hooper 4/5 stars

This was a picture-laden biography of Lewis, written by his literary executor, Walter Hooper. As a biography I enjoyed it, though in places it seemed more hagiography than biography. When I was reading it, I thought it was really odd that Hooper kept inserting himself into the text in the third person. Though he was only Lewis’s secretary for less than a year, he finds a way to show up throughout the book. For example, instead of simply telling about an event in Lewis’s life, he may write something like, Walter Hooper sat down to talk with Lewis’s friend Owen Barfield about this time in Lewis’s life. It was kind of weird.

The C.S. Lewis Hoax by Kathryn Lindskoog 4/5 stars

Aaand…This book explained the weirdness. Kathryn Lindskoog, a Lewis scholar, argues in this book that Hooper mostly made up a story about Lewis’s brother burning Lewis’s manuscripts after Lewis died. According to Hooper’s story, he rescued a pile of manuscripts from the flames and continues to edit and publish them to this day. Lewis’s groundskeeper at the time remembers nothing of such an event. Lindskoog’s main contention is that the story The Dark Tower posthumously published is not really a work by Lewis but a forgery. Whether it is or isn’t, and the case is fairly sketchy, I was convinced that Hooper is a weirdo who really wished he were Lewis’s best buddy. Does it strike you as at all creepy that Hooper possesses and cherishes C.S. Lewis’s baby blanket?

Journey into Narnia by Kathryn Lindskoog 5/5 stars

This was an awesome companion to the Chronicles of Narnia and would be great for a school unit study. There are essays about each book, review questions, activities, and recipes for food from the books. Lot’s of fun.

Prejudices

2011-11-09T07:54:00.000-05:00

“Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.”

-from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Chapter 29

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T21:46:00.001-05:00

Rhett and Link share a very special Halloween story:

Trick Or Treat Song - Amazing videos are here

Imaginary Jesus

2011-10-29T22:23:00.004-05:00

It started as an ordinary day. Matt was hanging out with his bed bud Jesus at his favorite hip, vegan, communist café in downtown Portland. Everything is business as usual until a fat trucker comes in, calls Jesus an impostor, and punches him in the mouth. The trucker then claims to be the apostle Peter, and reveals that for years Matt has been worshiping an Imaginary Jesus of his own devising. Peter enlists the aid of a talking donkey named Daisy and an ex-hooker named Sandy to help Matt hunt down his Imaginary Jesus and find the real Jesus in an adventure that takes them through ancient Israel, Portland and Vancouver, and Matt’s comic-book-influenced psyche.

Soon the motley group is on the run for their lives from a whole army of imaginary Jesuses, who are not too happy about Matt’s quest to find the real Jesus, having happily settled themselves into the lives of Christians and churches all over the world. Along the way, our heroes encounter many imaginary Jesuses including Legalist Jesus, Hippie Jesus, Televangelist Jesus, Political Jesus, Testosterone Jesus, Emergent Jesus, Superhero Jesus, Businessman Jesus, Mormon Jesus and many more.

Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos is a fun and witty satire along the lines of Nate Wilson’s “Right Behind” books. Although the point is sometimes belabored and the writing is sometimes a bit heavy-handed, the message is an important one: we often want to imagine Jesus in our own image because the real Jesus is just too dangerous and unpredictable. I was getting some Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy vibes as well here. Imagine if Douglas Adams had been an orthodox Christian, and you might get a picture of what this book is like.

4/5 stars

Mattimeo, Mossflower, Salamandastron

2011-10-20T06:29:00.003-05:00

Here is my review for Mattimeo, Mossflower, and Salamandastron, the Redwall books that I read this year.

Mattimeo 3/5 stars
Mossflower 3/5 stars
Salamandastron 2/5 stars

The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau

2011-10-19T13:14:00.005-05:00

I’m a sucker for a good romantic adventure novel, especially English adventure novels written in the late 1800s and early 1900s that embody British Imperialist ideas. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, Captain Blood by Raphael Sabatini, and Prester John by John Buchan are a few of my favorites. And thus it was with relish that I soaked up the adventures of Rudolf Rassendyll in Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda.

Anthony Hope is a master of the genre and his Mr. Rassendyll is an appropriately believable superman along the same lines as Percy Blakeney. The plot of The Prisoner of Zenda is tightly constructed will colorful and memorable characters, a devious villain, and numerous plot twists. If you are a fan of adventure stories, you really ought to read this book.

One theme that runs through the story is the age old theme of Love versus Duty. Rassendyll happens to be an exact look-alike for his distant relative, the king of Ruritania, and as the king is kidnapped while Rassendyll is conveniently vacationing in the country, he becomes embroiled in a conspiracy to impersonate the monarch until the true king can be rescued. Along the way, Rassendyll falls in love with the king’s fiancée. This, of course, makes him question whether he really wants the king to be rescued or not. It wouldn’t be giving anything away to say that Rassendyll, like any good subject of the British Empire, makes a good Roman decision and chooses Duty.

The sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda, Rupert of Hentzau, is another matter. It has flashes of the same brilliance and charm as the first book, but rather than a tightly constructed plot, there is a rambling narrative with too many loose ends. Also in Hope revisits the Duty versus Love question, ramps up the moral dilemma, increases tension to the breaking point and finally comes up with...the BIGGEST COP OUT OF ALL TIME! It's a shame really since the first book was so good.

Overall my suggestion is to read The Prisoner of Zenda and skip on the less than adequate sequel.

The Prisoner of Zenda 5/5 stars
Rupert of Hentzau 3/5 stars

Literature and Philosophy

2011-10-11T06:47:00.004-05:00

"For all great Literature, I would lastly observe, is gentle towards that spirit which learns of it. It teaches by apprehension not by comprehension—which is what many philosophers try to do, and, in trying, break their jugs and spill the contents. Literature understands man and of what he is capable. Philosophy, on the other hand, may not be 'harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,' but the trouble with most of its practitioners is that they try to comprehend the Universe. Now the man who could comprehend the Universe would ipso facto comprehend God, and be ipso facto a Super-God, able to dethrone him, and in the arrogance of his intellectual conceit full ready to make the attempt."

- from The Art of Reading by Arthur Quiller-Couch

Super Aiantes Brothers

2011-10-06T12:57:00.004-05:00

It frequently happens in The Iliad that a god or goddess will come down and "supercharge" a mortal to wreak massive devastation on the other side. The mortal becomes invincible, goes on a killing rampage, and sometimes can see and attack the gods themselves. (ex.- Diomedes attacks Aphrodite at one point which leads to a humorous exchange in Olympos.) Whenever this happens, it always makes me think of the super stars in the Mario Bros. games. And thus...

Back on Track

2011-10-05T06:30:00.005-05:00

Back in January, I made a New Year's Resolution to read 100 books this year and write a review of each one. So far I'm doing great with the first part. I have read 79 books so far and am plugging along with more. However, at some point writing about all of these books got away from me, and I have failed miserably at the second part of my resolution. So here I go, getting back on track. Instead of making myself write a 750ish word review on each book, I'm going to try to shoot off a few mini-reviews per blog post in the upcoming weeks to get myself caught up. Then at least when I'm a few years down the road, I can look back and get an idea of what the books I read were about and whether I liked them.

Dickens and Laissez Faire

2011-09-24T20:16:00.002-05:00

"But Dickens was never a Socialist any more than he was an Individualist; and, whatever else he was, he certainly was not sullen. He was not even a politician of any kind. He was simply a man of very clear, airy judgment on things that did not inflame his private temper, and he perceived that any theory that tried to run the living State entirely on one force and motive was probably nonsense. Whenever the Liberal philosophy had embedded in it something hard and heavy and lifeless, by an instinct he dropped it out. He was too romantic, perhaps, but he would have to do only with real things. He may have cared too much about Liberty. But he cared nothing about 'Laissez Faire.'"

-from Charles Dickens by G. K. Chesterton

Breakfast

2011-09-21T11:22:00.000-05:00

"Dogs eat the first thing they come across, cats take a little milk, and gentlemen are accustomed to get up at nine and eat eggs, bacon, kidneys, ham, cold pheasant, toast, coffee, tea, scones, and honey, after which they will boast that their race is the hardiest in the world and ready to bear every fatigue in the pursuit of Empire."

-from The Path to Rome by Hilaire Belloc

How to Keep People From Reading the Bible

2011-09-15T06:55:00.002-05:00

"Will you still go on to imagine that all the poetry is printed as prose; while all the long paragraphs of prose are broken up into short verses, so that they resemble the little passages set out for parsing or analysis in an examination paper? This device, as you know, was first invented by the exiled translators who published the Geneva Bible (as it is called) in 1557; and for pulpit use, for handiness of reference, for 'waling a portion,' it has its obvious advantages: but it is, after all and at the best, a very primitive device: and, for my part, I consider it the deadliest invention of all for robbing the book of outward resemblance to literature and converting it to the aspect of a gazetteer—a biblion a-biblion, as Charles Lamb puts it...Have we done? By no means. Having effected all this, let us pepper the result over with italics and numerals, print it in double columns, with a marginal gutter on either side, each gutter pouring down an inky flow of references and cross references. Then, and not till then, is the outward disguise complete—so far as you are concerned."

-From On the Art of Reading by Arthur Quiller-Couch

The Direction of God's Story

2011-09-14T06:47:00.003-05:00

I've often said that people who think the world is getting worse as time goes by should just read a few history books. Apparently Jacob Abbott agrees. Writing of the Ptolemies in his biography of Cleopatra he states:

"We shall have something to say in the next chapter in respect to the internal condition of the country while these violent men were upon the throne. In the mean time, we will here only add, that whoever is inclined, in observing the ambition, the selfishness, the party spirit, the unworthy intrigues, and the irregularities of moral conduct, which modern rulers and statesmen sometimes exhibit to mankind in their personal and political career, to believe in a retrogression and degeneracy of national character as the world advances in age, will be very effectually undeceived by reading attentively a full history of this celebrated dynasty, and reflecting, as he reads, that the narrative presents, on the whole, a fair and honest exhibition of the general character of the men by whom, in ancient times, the world was governed."

(Jacob Abbott, Cleopatra)

Conservative? It Depends.

2011-09-13T08:27:00.004-05:00

"It is not that they are really opposed to improvement itself for its own sake, but that they are so afraid of change. They call themselves Conservatives, and wish to preserve every thing as it is. They hate the process of pulling down. Now, if a thing is good, it is better, of course, to preserve it; but, on the other hand, if it is bad, it is better that it should be pulled down. When, therefore, you are asked whether you are a Conservative or not, reply that that depends upon the character of the institution or the usage which is attacked. If it is good, let it stand. If it is bad, let it be destroyed."

-from Peter the Great) by Jacob Abbott

The Freak-Show of Real Life

2011-09-12T11:18:00.006-05:00

If a literary critic were to write of God as an author, I think he may find His characters a bit improbable. In his biography of Charles Dickens G. K. Chesterton writes:

"There is, of course, no paradox at all in saying that if we find in a good book a wildly impossible character it is very probable indeed that it was copied from a real person. This is one of the commonplaces of good art criticism. For although people talk of the restraints of fact and the freedom of fiction, the case for most artistic purposes is quite the other way. Nature is as free as air: art is forced to look probable. There may be a million things that do happen, and yet only one thing that convinces us is likely to happen. Out of a million possible things there may be only one appropriate thing. I fancy, therefore, that many stiff, unconvincing characters are copied from the wild freak-show of real life."

From Charles Dickens, by G. K. Chesterton. Chapter 5.

Beyond Forensic Righteousness

2011-09-03T20:33:00.003-05:00

The courtroom view of righteousness and justification is good and biblical and has served the Church well over the years. However, it is important to remember that the idea of a cosmic courtroom is an analogy, and, like all analogies, is not exhaustive or ultimate.

"...the fact remains that the biblical notion or righteousness does not make sense as a forensic term in the abstract. The universe is not ultimately impersonal. Nor are there impersonal principles or 'laws' which govern the world or man. The notion of law in the Bible, and therefore, also, the idea of righteousness, is inescapably a matter of interpersonal relationships, which is why it is possible for Jesus to summarize the law in terms of love. Also, if righteousness is to have any meaning in the interpersonal relationships of the persons of the Trinity, it cannot be limited to forensic ideas or to the notion of obedience to commandments. Rather than strictly legal notions, the following sort of interpersonal ideas must be prominent: faithfulness to the covenant, an inflexible commitment to bless the beloved, the integrity that is associated with covenant loyalty."
-from Paradox and Truth: Rethinking Van Til on the Trinity by Ralph Smith

The Whole Sweep of Scripture

2011-09-02T13:51:00.001-05:00

HT: Mark Horne

Weak Government = Strong People

2011-08-31T05:39:00.005-05:00

To think that this could still be said of America 150 years ago:

"It is in consequence of having observed the effect of such armaments in the despotisms of Europe and Asia that the free governments of modern times take good care not to allow large standing armies to be formed. Instead of this the people organize themselves into armed bands, in connection with which they meet and practice military evolutions on appointed days, and then separate and go back to their wives and to their children, and to their usual occupations, while in the despotic countries where large standing armies are maintained, the people are strictly forbidden to possess arms, or to form organizations, or to take measures of any kind that could tend to increase their means of defense against their oppressors in the event of a struggle.

The consequence is, that under the free governments of the present day the people are strong and the government is weak. The standing army of France consists at the present time of five hundred thousand men, completely armed and equipped, and devoted all the time to the study and practice of the art of war. By means of this force one man is able to keep the whole population of the country in a state of complete and unquestioning submission to his will. In the United States, on the other hand, with a population nearly as great, the standing army seldom amounts to an effective force of fifteen thousand men; and if a president of the United States were to attempt by means of it to prolong his term of office, or to accomplish any other violent end, there is, perhaps, not a single state in the Union, the population of which would not alone be able to put him down—so strong are the people with us, and so weak, in opposition to them, the government and the army.

It is often made a subject of reproach by European writers and speakers, in commenting on the state of things in America, that the government is so weak; but this we consider not our reproach, but our glory. The government is indeed weak. The people take good care to keep it weak. But the nation is not weak; the nation is strong. The difference is, that in our country the nation chooses to retain its power in its own hands. The people make the government strong enough from time to time for all the purposes which they wish it to accomplish. When occasion shall arise, the strength thus to be imparted to it may be increased almost indefinitely, according to the nature of the emergency. In the mean time, the people consider themselves the safest depositary of their reserved power."

-from Peter the Great by Jacob Abbott

Latin: A Dead Language?

2011-08-20T09:11:00.004-05:00

I beg to differ, and so apparently do the makers of Smash Bros. Brawl.

Lyrics:

Audi famam illius.
Solus in hostes ruit
et patriam servavit.

Audi famam illius.
Cucurrit quaeque
tetigit destruens.

Audi famam illius.
Audi famam illius.

Spes omnibus, mihi quoque.
Terror omnibus, mihi quoque.

Ille
iuxta me.

Ille iuxta me.
Socii sunt mihi.
qui olim viri fortes
rivalesque erant.

Saeve certando pugnandoque
splendor crescit.

How to Get Teenage Boys to Read

2011-08-09T13:25:00.002-05:00

The accepted wisdom of our day is that boys, though they may read voraciously in elementary and early middle school, often cease to read on their own or only read in a very disengaged way throughout middle and high school. Though there are many factors that cause this phenomenon, (home atmosphere, cultural expectations, etc.) I believe that one of the biggest reasons boys quit reading is that they aren’t finding anything to interest them. After enough poetry of the likes of Oliver Wendell Holmes and books trying to get them to care about poor little boys like Pip, it may be good to balance their reading diet with something that may be more appealing to their appetite. My solution: plunk that boy down in front of The Song of Roland, or Beowulf, or The Iliad.

Imagine if high school boys encountered literature not like this:

“Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!”
(“The Chambered Nautilus”, by Holmes)

But like this:

“Idomeneus stabbed Erymas in the mouth with the pitiless
bronze, so that the brazen spearhead smashed its way clean through
below the brain in an upward stroke, and the white bones splintered,
and the teeth were shaken out with the stroke and both eyes filled up
with blood, and gaping he blew a spray of blood through the nostrils
and through his mouth, and death in a dark mist closed in about him.”
(The Iliad, book 16)

Brilliant Government Ideas

2011-08-05T12:08:00.003-05:00

In his biography of William the Conqueror, Jacob Abbott has a nice sarcastic quote that is particularly applicable to our current political situation. In the context of William financing his conquest of England, Abbott writes:

"...for so distant and vast an undertaking as this, William needed a much larger supply of funds than were usually required in the wars of those days. For raising such large supplies, the political institutions of the Middle Ages had not made any adequate provision. Governments then had no power of taxation, like that so freely exercised in modern times...And as to the contrivance, so exceedingly ingenious, by which inexhaustible resources are opened to governments at the present day—that is, the plan of borrowing the money, and leaving posterity to pay or repudiate the debt, as they please, no minister of finance had, in William's day, been brilliant enough to discover it."

(Jacob Abbott, William the Conqueror, p. 173)

On Images of Christ

2011-08-04T13:29:00.002-05:00

"For I am convinced that it is God’s will that we should hear and learn what He has done, especially what Christ suffered. But when I hear these things and meditate upon them, I find it impossible not to picture them in my heart. Whether I want to or not, when I hear, of Christ, a human form hanging upon a cross rises up in my heart: just as I see my natural face reflected when I look into water. Now if it is not sinful for me to have Christ’s picture in my heart, why should it be sinful to have it before my eyes?"

-Martin Luther (from "Preface for Chorgesangbuch by Johann Walter")

Battle of the Books

2011-08-03T07:40:00.006-05:00

The Battle of the Books and Other Short Pieces introduced me to Jonathan Swift in a whole new way. I have to admit that I’ve never been a big fan of Gulliver’s Travels. It’s a fun sort of book with some clever satire, but it’s always really fallen flat with me. I just assumed that it is the best thing Swift ever wrote, as it is the one piece by him that is required reading in almost every school. This collection of his shorter writings showed me I was wrong.

The book opens with a short story called “The Battle of the Books.” Apparently in Swift’s day there was quite a bit of disagreement in the educational world over which books were more valuable and important to read. One school of thought favored the ancient writers, the other favored the moderns. The raging debate finds its way into St. James’s library where the books literally take up arms and go to war with one another in a hilarious parody of The Iliad. Some of my favorite passages:

“It happened upon this emergency that Æsop broke silence first. He had been of late most barbarously treated by a strange effect of the regent’s humanity, who had torn off his title-page, sorely defaced one half of his leaves, and chained him fast among a shelf of Moderns. Where, soon discovering how high the quarrel was likely to proceed, he tried all his arts, and turned himself to a thousand forms. At length, in the borrowed shape of an ass, the regent mistook him for a Modern; by which means he had time and opportunity to escape to the Ancients”

“Then Aristotle, observing Bacon advance with a furious mien, drew his bow to the head, and let fly his arrow, which missed the valiant Modern and went whizzing over his head; but Descartes it hit; the steel point quickly found a defect in his head-piece; it pierced the leather and the pasteboard, and went in at his right eye.”

“When Homer appeared at the head of the cavalry, mounted on a furious horse, with difficulty managed by the rider himself, but which no other mortal durst approach; he rode among the enemy’s ranks, and bore down all before him. Say, goddess, whom he slew first and whom he slew last! First, Gondibert advanced against him, clad in heavy armour and mounted on a staid sober gelding, not so famed for his speed as his docility in kneeling whenever his rider would mount or alight. He had made a vow to Pallas that he would never leave the field till he had spoiled Homer of his armour: madman, who had never once seen the wearer, nor understood his strength! Him Homer overthrew, horse and man, to the ground, there to be trampled and choked in the dirt.”

After this is included a “Meditation Upon a Broomstick,” apparently a parody of a popular moralist of his day. This one would probably have been funnier if I had read anything by the author being parodied.

The selection that follows is a dry satire of astrology and almanacs in which Swift, writing under the pseudonym of Isaac Bickerstaff, predicts the death of one of the leading almanac makers of the day. Apparently his satire was so successful that many people really believed that the almanac maker, Mr. Partridge, had died. Poor Mr. Partridge had a difficult time convincing his creditors and business partners that he was still alive.

There are a few clever but not amazing poems after this, followed by some birthday poems to the love of Swift’s life, Stella. After this are printed two prayers written by Swift while Stella was dying. These are incredibly beautiful and heartfelt and really show the deep Christian devotion of Swift behind his playful exterior.

Finally the book is rounded out with an essay with perhaps the best title ever: “An Argument to Prove that the Abolishing of Christianity in England May, As Things Now Stand, Be Attended with Some Inconveniences, and Perhaps Not Produce Those Many Good Effects Proposed Thereby.” This is a brilliant piece of biting satire lobbed by Swift at the growing secularism of his day. Many parts of it could have been written yesterday with America in mind. The book concludes with a collection of sayings by Swift that are not part of larger essays.

I came away from this book with a new appreciation for Jonathan Swift as an author, thinker and satirist. This book is just the thing to instill an appreciation for the breadth and depth of this great writer.

4/5 stars

Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities

2011-06-30T05:47:00.003-05:00

I was talking to a friend a few weeks ago, and he made a great point about history books. For the most part historians are all using the same sources; the only difference between history books is the way those sources are presented. This is to a large extent true and explains the appeal of Paul Cartledge’s Ancient Greece: A History in Eleven Cities.

Too many general overviews of Greek history focus on something called “the Greek mind” or “the Greek way of thinking”, a term that inevitably means the way of thinking that developed in Athens during her golden age. Cartledge avoids this Atheno-centric approach by giving an overview of Greek history from the perspective of a series of cities, beginning with Cnossus, the pre-Greek Minoan city on the island of Crete, continuing through the Mycenaean age and the migrations of the Dorians, discussing several cities of the Classical age, and moving into Roman times as far as Byzantium. The result of this approach is that the reader gets a glimpse of the great diversity that existed among the thousands of independent Greek city-states in ancient times.

I was able to fly through this book fairly quickly; it was a great vacation read. I already knew the broad overview so I was able to enjoy the proverbial scenery of each city. The only weakness I found was that near the end of the book, particularly in discussing Byzantium, it seems like Cartledge is trying to draw on too many historical periods at once and leap back and forth between them, making the chapter seem disheveled. Other than that, there’s a lot of good information here and I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a good introduction to Greek history.

4/5 stars

Friendship

2011-06-30T05:25:00.001-05:00

"Without friendship, as we full well know, there is no society of any worth."
(Xenophon, The Symposium)

Alexander the Great

2011-06-29T08:18:00.004-05:00

I just finished reading Alexander the Great by Jacob Abbott. Jacob was one of a pair of brothers, John being the other one, who wrote a series of historical biographies for young people in the 1800s. The books begin with Cyrus the Great and move chronologically up to the time of Napoleon, which was recent history at the time of writing.

This book is a very general history of Alexander the Great that gives a big-picture view of his life. It was originally written for young people, so it is fairly simplified and contains quite a few educational excursions on such topics as Greek mythology, how oases are formed, how camels survive in the desert, etc. However, it is well-written, exciting, and energetic. I'm planning on reading Paul Cartledge's book on Alexander the Great soon and wanted a general overview of Alexander's life in narrative form before I wade into the historiography of it all. This is just the sort of book I was looking for, and it would serve well as a good introduction to Alexander for both younger and older readers.

4/5 stars

Redwall, Mossflower, Mattimeo

2011-06-21T06:26:00.003-05:00

In the northern edge of Mossflower woods, on the road that runs north of St. Ninian’s church, lies Redwall Abbey. However, this is no ordinary abbey; there is something special about Redwall Abbey that sets it apart from all other abbeys. It is populated entirely by small vermin. Tiny Roman Catholic mice, who… Wait. They’re not Roman Catholic? But then why do they live in an abbey, organize themselves like monks, and live under the rule of an abbot? Hold on, so you mean despite the presence of abbeys, churches, and holy brothers, no character holds even remotely religious views about the world?

This is one of the many inconsistencies that irked me while reading the first three Redwall books. There are mice who live in an abbey and act like monks, but who have no conceivable metaphysical reason for doing so. In the first book, we hear about towns, we see an army of rats ride in on a hay wagon pulled by a farm horse, and we meet a cat living in a barn near a farm. My assumption was that lurking around the corner, out of sight, were humans going about their day to day life oblivious to the medieval world of rodents all around them. In this scenario, everything made sense. The mice had moved into an abandoned human-sized abbey and were imitating the behavior of the humans who had previously lived there. However, in the later books, the author retcons all this away by showing that the cat is really the farmer himself, and the mice built the abbey themselves. Rather than a bunch of animals in a human-sized world, they are…I dunno, either regular-sized animals in an animal sized world, or human-sized animals in a human-sized world a la Disney’s Robin Hood. The fact that proportions are never clear and the nature of the world remains ambiguous is frustrating. If the rodents built the abbey themselves, then we’re back to the question, “Why an abbey when there is clearly no religion among the mice?”

Anyway, having vented my frustrations at the set up in the books, the stories themselves weren’t half bad. I read the books because my son read them and loved them. As I was reading them, he would ask me every day where I was in the story and would remember all the things that happened in that part of the book. The first book, Redwall, centered on Matthias, a young mouse who must find the sword of the legendary Martin the Warrior and save Redwall abbey from the evil sea-rat Cluny the Scourge. The second book, Mossflower, is a prequel, showing the woodlanders led by Martin fighting against the reign of Tsarmina the Wildcat and founding Redwall. In the third book, Mattimeo, we see Matthias as a full grown mouse with a child of his own. His son Mattimeo along with the other youngsters of the abbey are kidnapped by the fox, Slagar the Cruel, and it’s up to the leaders of Redwall to rescue them.

These books are colorful, funny, and full of action and adventure. Aside from the inconsistencies, which only an adult would notice, I can see why children like them. The writing is not the best, the plots are a bit contrived, and each book could be cut by at least 100 pages and not suffer for it. However, the author, Brian Jacques, really knows how to write fun. His villains are the best things about the books. He’s not afraid to create really bad villains, and isn’t afraid to let them kill off other characters, even sometimes pretty major characters. The villains in Mattimeo were especially creepy and wicked.

In the end, I don’t know if these books will go on to be enduring classics in children’s literature in the same way as The Chronicles of Narnia, Watership Down, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH or other books of the kind. However, they are fun in their own way, they teach some good lessons about character and sacrifice, and kids definitely love them.

3/5 stars

Livy, Books VI-X

2011-06-20T07:50:00.004-05:00

Having completed books VI-X of T. Livius’s The History of Rome From Its Foundation, I have now read almost all of Livy’s work that hasn’t been lost to antiquity. The writings of Livy, who lived during the reign of Caesar Augustus, are fascinating for me simply because of the sheer scope of his endeavor. Utilizing previous Greek and Roman sources as well as official government annals, Livy attempts to piece together a history of Rome from its founding all the way up to the present time of Augustus. One can tell from the work that Livy is a great patriot of his country, and thus we get little reliable information about non-Roman peoples. However, Livy is not so biased that he is above criticizing his own people for their follies or, for example, praising Hannibal the Carthaginian for his heroic qualities. Aside from the fact that Livy was highly regarded in the middle ages, and thus references to stories from Livy are found everywhere in Western literature, the narrative Livy lays out of great men, wars, and political strife is an engrossing, if sometimes tedious, read.

Books VI-X are different both from the books that come before and those that follow. In Books I-V, Livy recounts the history of Rome from its founding in c. 753 B.C. to Camillus’s defeat of the Gauls in 386 B.C. Most of this material is legendary and we get a good number of exciting adventures. Romulus and Remus, the Sabine women, the haughty Tarquins, the rise of the Republic, the exploits of Cincinnatus, Camillus, and other heroes are all there as well as information about the foundation of the great political division between patricians and plebeians that would drive Roman politics throughout the time of the Republic.

In contrast to the 370 or so years covered by the first five books, books XXI-XXX cover a mere twenty-one years, roughly from 222-201 B.C. This is the time of the Second Punic War when Hannibal famously crossed the Alps and waged war with Rome on her own soil. These books have a much clearer historical basis and Livy includes exhaustive detail about battles and politics during the war. Aside from the speeches, which were almost always fabricated for the occasion in ancient histories, we get a very clear and vivid picture of the time period.

Books VI-X are somewhere between these two. At the beginning of book VI, Livy writes, “In the five preceding books, I have exhibited a view of the affairs of the Romans from the building of the city of Rome, until its capture; under the government, first, of kings; then of consuls and dictators, decemvirs, and consular tribunes; their foreign wars, and domestic dissensions: matters involved in obscurity, not only by reason of their great antiquity, like objects placed at such a distance as to be scarcely discernible by the eye; but also because that in those times, the use of letters, the only faithful guardian of the memory of events, was very rare. And besides, whatever information might have been contained in the commentaries of the pontiffs, and other public or private records, it was almost entirely lost in the burning of the city. Henceforward, from the second origin of Rome, from whence, as from its root, receiving new life, it sprung up with redoubled health and vigour, I shall be able to give the relation of its affairs, both civil and military, with more clearness and certainty.”

In these books, covering the period between 389 B.C. and 292 B.C., we see Rome at war with her neighbors, mostly the Etruscans, Volscii, and Samnites. By the end of the tenth book, Rome arises as the supreme power on the Italian peninsula. We get more great stories of battle and deeds of heroism, some of which are probably more legendary than historical, propagated by descendants of the men in question. We hear more of Camillus, and see the deeds of Torquatus, Corvinus, Manlius and others. The Roman code of honor stands out here, probably more a product of Livy’s patriotism than anything else. We also continue to follow the squabbling politics of the Roman people to some important end. The plebeians continue to gain political power, and, in a political act that resonates even to our day, Rome passed a law ending the practice of throwing debtors into prison.

If you are an ancient history buff, Livy is required reading. However, there are lessons to be learned here far beyond the realm of the historian. As Livy writes at the beginning of his first book, “The study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find for yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things, rotten through and through, to avoid.” Livy’s history is primarily centered on the great men, the movers and shakers of history. In examining the characters and motivations of these men, Livy wants the reader to take note of those characteristics which stand out as noble, good and honorable as well as those which are base, vile, and corrupt. The greatest benefit a reader will get from Livy is not a detailed knowledge of Roman history, but a sense of the variety of humanity and a series of moral examples which are often to be found in the best of literature.

4/5 stars

Man as Herd

2011-06-15T19:01:00.000-05:00

“A crowd, proportionately to its size, magnifies all that in its units pertains to the emotions, and diminishes all that in them pertains to thought.”

(Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson, p. 108)

College Life

2011-06-15T19:00:00.000-05:00

“Oxford, that lotus-land, saps the will-power, the power of action. But, in doing so, it clarifies the mind, makes larger the vision, gives, above all, that playful and caressing suavity of manner which comes of a conviction that nothing matters, except ideas, and that not even ideas are worth dying for, inasmuch as the ghosts of them slain seem worthy of yet more piously elaborate homage than can be given to them in their heyday. If the Colleges could be transferred to the dry and bracing top of some hill, doubtless they would be more evidently useful to the nation. But let us be glad there is no engineer or enchanter to compass that task.”

(Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson, p. 137)

Zuleika Dobson: an Oxford Love Story

2011-06-14T08:44:00.002-05:00

Those busts of the old Roman emperors at Oxford knew that trouble was brewing the moment Zuleika Dobson set foot on that noble campus. If anyone had been paying attention, he would have seen those venerable marble gentlemen sweating profusely at the premonition of what was about to transpire. You see, Zuleika is no ordinary girl. She’s the sort of extraordinary girl that causes every man who comes in contact with her to fall madly in love. Unfortunately, she could never love the sort of man who loses his dignity by throwing himself at her. And so, Zuleika is bereft of love in the world.

Her latest victim is also the most admired student at Oxford, the Duke of Dorset, who determines to kill himself because Zuleika won’t love him. Upon hearing of his determination, the members of his elite club, also madly in love with Zuleika, decide to enter into this passion-driven suicide pact. And when the rest of the male student body hear about this, well…

The book progresses from here, a zany cross between the madcap antics of P.G. Wodehouse and the wry, sardonic humor of Hilaire Belloc. Everyone is crazy, old Oxfordian ghosts regularly pop in and out of the scenes, and, oh yes, there is a boat race. Having read this book, it’s no wonder that author Max Beerbohm was so popular in his day. If you’re a fan of early 20th century British humor, you need to run out and get a copy of Zuleika Dobson: an Oxford Love Story as soon as possible.

4/5 stars

St. Francis

2011-06-08T11:54:00.001-05:00

This painting is by an artist named Tyrus Clutter. I can't say I'm a huge fan of all his work, but I got a great kick out of this one.

St. Francis of L'Abri by Tyrus Clutter.

How to See the World Rightly

2011-05-28T18:39:00.010-05:00

"For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any books however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly."

(John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.6.1, Henry Beveridge, trans.)

"O grace abundant, by which I presumed
To fix my sight upon the Light Eternal,
So that the seeing I consumed therein!
I saw that in its depth far down is lying
Bound up with love together in one volume,
What through the universe in leaves is scattered;
Substance, and accident, and their operations,
All interfused together in such wise
That what I speak of is one simple light.
The universal fashion of this knot
Methinks I saw, since more abundantly
In saying this I feel that I rejoice."

(Dante Alighieri, Pardiso , Canto 33, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, trans.)

"The Ultimate Book" by François Schuiten

End Times

2011-05-24T10:38:00.009-05:00

Well, I’ve had my bit of fun. I suppose it’s time for me to be a little more serious and explain why exactly Harold Camping was wrong, and why he is still, by the way, wrong. There is no secret rapture of the Church, there is no coming Great Tribulation, and there is no reason to believe that the prince in Daniel 9, antichrist in John’s epistles, and the beasts in Revelation refer to the same person; nor is there reason to believe that such a person looms in the future of prophecy.

Obviously I can’t make this exhaustive case in a blog post, but I will share some of the thoughts and ideas that my students and I have discussed in our classes while reading books like The Wars of the Jews by Josephus. I will be building a case for the sort of understanding of various scripture passages that would have occurred to first century believers, those to whom the Bible was actually written.

The Context of the Bible

I suppose the place to start is to point out that the Bible wasn’t written to us. The apostle Paul did not have me in mind while writing any of his letters, Luke the physician was not writing his gospel account for my benefit, and Peter and John did not anticipate that I would still be reading their epistles two thousand years later. By inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these are God’s words, and by God’s providence they have been preserved through the Church for believers today and are profitable and true. However, we have to understand these writings in their historical context in order to then determine how they will be profitable for Christians today. Therefore, when Jesus says things like, “this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened” (Mark 13:30), his listeners would have rightly understood that he was talking to them. They would not have thought, “Oh yes, he’s simply saying this so that John Mark can later write it down and Christians in the 21st century can read it and understand that the generation he is referring to is the generation that witnessed the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948.” No, Jesus was talking to His listeners and not to us, and so the passage should be understood. Likewise in Revelation 13:18, when John writes, “This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666,” the wise men in the churches of the time would not have said, “Aha, I’ve calculated the number, and figured out the identity of this beast. But…who exactly is Barack Hussein Obama?”

That being said, the passage most often used to predict Tribulation, Rapture, and otherwise End Times events is the Olivet discourse found in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. As I previously stated, I don’t have time to go through this passage thoroughly, but I will hit on a few points. The key thing to understand in this passage is that the disciples have asked about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple which Jesus prophesied (Matt. 24:1-2). The disciples, influenced by the popular Zealot party naturally conflate the destruction of the Temple with the end of the age/world due to the belief that God could not let His Temple be destroyed (see the statement by rebel leader John of Gischala in Wars of the Jews Book 6 Chapter 2). Indeed it was the end of an age, though not the end of the space-time continuum as we know it. And all the prophecies made by Jesus in Matthew 24 took place in the time frame He set for them, “this generation.”

The early Church understood this. Jesus told his followers, “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.” (Matt. 24:15-21) When the Roman army besieged Jerusalem beginning in A.D. 68, Christians in the city saw that this prophecy was being fulfilled. This was especially true as the Zealot leaders took over the Temple and made it their headquarters to wage war against rival factions. When Vespasian was forced to return to Rome to fight for the throne, Christians fled the city just as Jesus had commanded, and the city was pretty much emptied of Christians by the time Titus came to resume the siege. Third century church historian Eusebius tells of this destruction and quotes this passage in Matthew 24, showing how the Christians recognized “the infallible prediction of our Savior regarding these very things…” (I encourage you to take the time to read The Church History Book 3, Chapters 5-8 to see this for yourself.)

Sun, Moon, and Stars

“But wait!” you say. “Jesus says that ‘Immediately after the distress of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken’’ (Matt. 24:29). I can look outside for myself and see that the sun is still shining, so this obviously hasn’t happened.”

To answer this, we need to tune in to the context. Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 13, so let’s turn to Isaiah and see what it has to say.

In Isaiah 13:9-16, we see the stars not giving their light, the sun and moon darkened and the earth shaken from its place. Surely this is an end-times prophecy as well, right? Well, if we continue on to read Isaiah 13:17-19, we get a different picture. “See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold. Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants, nor will they look with compassion on children. Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Babylonians, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.” God says that all these prophesied things refer to the conquest of Babylon by the Medes. In fact the text explicitly states this in Isaiah 13:1, “A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw.” Babylon was overthrown by Cyrus the Mede in 539 B.C. (You can read about it in Herodotus I:188-191), and yet the sun still shines.

A similar passage occurs in Ezekiel 32. “When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you; I will bring darkness over your land, declares the Sovereign LORD” (Ezekiel 32:7-8).

This is not an “end-times” passage either. As we see, “In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month on the first day, the word of the LORD came to me: ‘Son of man, take up a lament concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt’…‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘The sword of the king of Babylon will come against you. I will cause your hordes to fall by the swords of mighty men— the most ruthless of all nations. They will shatter the pride of Egypt, and all her hordes will be overthrown” (Ezekiel 32:1, 11-12). The Egyptian army was utterly destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 604 B.C. and in 568 B.C. Babylon invaded Egypt itself.

From these two passages we see that the language of the sun, moon, and stars being darkened/turned to blood are applied to great political upheavals when cities and nations are overthrown by conquerors.

You might say that this is just speculation. “How do you know that your interpretation is right and the interpretation that these are end-times passages is wrong?” The answer is that we don’t need to speculate on whether this sort of “decreation language” can be applied to the conquest of nations because the Bible tells us up front that this is how we are to understand the passage. It is not speculative to say, “The Bible explicitly says this passage is about the Persians conquering Babylon right there in Isaiah 13:1.” It is insanely speculative to say that the fact that the kings of the earth avoid Babylon when they see her smoke rising to heaven (Rev. 18:9-10) shows that the city has been destroyed by an atomic bomb. (I actually heard this on the radio last week!)

So, to apply what we’ve learned, we see the darkening of Sun, Moon, and stars being applied to the defeat of Babylon and Egypt in the Old Testament. We should expect a similar application in the New Testament: For example:

Isaiah 13 (Conquest of Babylon by the Medo-Persians in 539 B.C.)
Ezekiel 32 (Conquest of Egypt by Babylon in 568 B.C.)
Matthew 24 (Conquest of Jerusalem by Rome in A.D. 70)

The Coming of the Son of Man

“But wait!” you say again. “Jesus says, ‘Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory’ (Matt. 24:30) Jesus clearly hasn’t come again, and therefore this has not been fulfilled.”

Once again, let’s look at context. In this verse, Jesus is quoting Daniel 7:13-14. Read this passage in Daniel:

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

Where is the Son of Man coming in this passage? In other words, what is the direction of His coming? “…one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days…” The Son of Man here is not coming to earth from heaven, but is coming to heaven from earth. This “coming” is Jesus’ return to the Father to be invested with great power and dominion. It is interesting that the Old Testament verse most often quoted by New Testament authors is Psalm 110:1, “The LORD says to my lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” This is always presented as a present reality in the New Testament. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, he has all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), and his enemies are even now being made His footstool. The sign of the Son of Man is the sign that Christ has “come” to the Father and has received His dominion. This sign is evidenced by the destruction of the Temple and the judgment of those who rejected and crucified Christ.

Left Behind

“But wait!” you say one last time. “Matthew 24:36-41 is a passage that clearly shows the Rapture of the Church. Two people are working together in a field. One is taken, and one is left behind. If this doesn’t obviously teach that in the end times all the Christians will disappear into thin air leaving their clothing behind, then I don’t know what does!”

Well, yet again, I believe that this passage is referring to the death of many people in the destruction of Jerusalem. Some are taken out by the sword and some are left. However, you don’t have to take my word for that. Let’s look at the analogy being set up in this passage.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:37). All right, so there’s a comparison going on here. This “coming” of the Son of Man will be like in the days of Noah.

“For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:28-39). In the days of Noah, who was taken away? We are told explicity that the flood came and “took” away those who knew nothing about what would come. Noah and his family were “left behind.” We’re told that the coming of the Son of Man will be the same! So who will be taken and who will be left at the coming of the Son of Man? As in Noah’s day, the wicked were taken away by the flood, so at the coming of the Son of Man the wicked will be taken away by some sort of judgment. It is the righteous, the ones who see it coming and prepare, who are left behind. In the destruction of Jerusalem, the Christians who had Jesus’ prophecy fled the city and were left behind when the Romans came, taking away those in the city and killing and enslaving the population of Jerusalem. There is no indication in this passage that “believers” are taken and “unbelievers” are left behind. In fact the very logic of the analogy dictates the opposite.

The Future

So what is left for the future if all of this Harold Campingesque nonsense is not going to happen? I think we see the answer in 1 Thess. 4:13-18. Paul tells the people that the day is coming for the bodily Resurrection at the end of time. At the second Coming of Christ, the dead will be raised to new life. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess. 4:16-17). Firstly, If Jesus is intending to come secretly and poof away His Church without anyone seeing Him, He really shouldn’t be blowing a trumpet and making such a ruckus. This is clearly not a secret event, but an event that all people on earth will witness.

Secondly, the description here is very reminiscent of a Roman Triumph. After a great battle or war was won, the victorious general would sometimes be granted a triumph, meaning that he would ride his war chariot or war horse into the city of Rome at the head of a parade, leading his conquered enemies behind him, and joined by all those who fought at his side. The people of the city would run out to greet him and together they would all jubilantly parade into the city to witness the execution of the captives. A great first hand description of a triumph can be found in Wars of the Jews Book 7 chapter 5 (or 7:122-157 for the traditional numbering).

It is important to note that a triumph is not the beginning, but the end of battle. Jesus is not returning to begin the war on sin and to start taking over the world. Jesus is returning after He has completed His conquest of the world, after His enemies are made His footstool (Psalm 110:1), after He has broken the nations with a rod of iron (Psalm 2:9), and after the nations have been made His disciples (Matt. 28:19). Creation will be set free from its bondage to sin into the glorious liberty of the sons of God (Rom. 8:21), and we will dwell forever with the Lord.

So there’s the future of the Church. We are spreading Christ’s kingdom to all parts of the earth, expecting victory in the Great Commission through Christ’s authority and the power of the Spirit, and expecting the triumphant return of Christ when all nations have come to acknowledge and serve him as their true king. This is, incidentally, why we shouldn’t expect October 21, 2011 to be the end of the world.

My One Regret

2011-05-21T16:13:00.011-05:00

Well, I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong. And I was wrong. Big time. Harold Camping was right about everything. At exactly 6:00 pm ET, I was sitting in my den reading when I suddenly felt a tingling sensation and found myself wearing a white dress and sitting on a cloud. So I thought I’d make one more blog post before I begin my eternity of harp playing and eating Philadelphia cream cheese.

I suppose hell is going to break loose on earth now, until October 21, but if you’re one of my students and you’re able to read this, I want you to know that I’ll still try to grade your exams from my new digs. I also think there’s still a little cash in my pants pocket if anyone wants it.

However, I do have one regret. Now that I’m here, I’ll never know how the book Mossflower ends. I know; you would think that with eternity ahead of me, I’d have plenty of reading time. However, the only books we’re allowed to have here are those written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. And I thought I could watch the animated version on TV, but we only get reruns of “Touched by an Angel” and “Little House on the Prairie”. So I suppose if anyone has read Mossflower and would like to make my eternal bliss complete, you could let me know if Martin is able to defeat Tsarmina.

Heavenly Yours,
Rick

Gnostic Wonderland

2011-05-21T07:32:00.001-05:00

In light of the imminent Rapture in, oh, about 9 1/2 hours, I wrote this little song. I think the tune is obvious.

"Gnostic Wonderland"
by Rick Davis

Trumpets blow, and I’m hummin’.
Cause the end is a-comin’.
I’ll tell you goodbye
As I fly to the sky.
Walkin’ in a Gnostic Wonderland.

Airplanes crash. People dyin’.
Big rigs smash. corpses flyin’.
But we’re feeling fine
We’ll leave our bodies behind.
Walkin’ in a Gnostic Wonderland.

In the ocean there’s this guy Osama.
We’ll pretend that he’s the Anti-Christ.
His head’s been hurtin lately; someone shot ‘im.
But he’ll be back to life tomorrow night.

For those left, it’s horrific,
But for us, it’s terrific.
I just hope and pray
God makes the preterists stay.
Walkin’ in a Gnostic Wonderland.

Walkin’ in a Gnostic Wonderlaaaaaaaaaaand!

MAY 21!!!

2011-05-20T13:01:00.005-05:00

Seventeen years. That's how long ago it's been since Harold Camping last predicted the Rapture. I wonder if he'll be any more successful this time around? Of course, if he'd been living in ancient Israel, he wouldn't be around to have a second go at it (Deut. 18:20-22), but we'll let that slide. In any case, based on the context of Matthew 24, I sure hope I'll be left behind just like Noah and his family rather than taken like all those poor saps who drowned in the flood (Matt. 24:36-41).

Anyway, I'll probably make a real blog post after tomorrow. In fact, you can bet on it.

And Ultimate Truth is a Person

2011-05-11T15:10:00.000-05:00

“If anyone can refute me—show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective—I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.”

(Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations, p. 74, Gregory Hays, trans.)

The Problem with Christian Colleges

2011-05-04T22:15:00.003-05:00

"From the brochures, it would be fair to conclude that the purpose of attending an evangelical Christian college is to ride horses, eat pizza, and make lifetime friends. In other words, it was hardly a clarion call to academic discipline, integrity, and hard work."

(Douglas Wilson, The Case for Classical Christian Education, p. 90)

Wimsey and Brown Are on the Case

2011-05-04T11:07:00.003-05:00

I was feeling in a mysterious mood recently, and felt like a nice vacation from nonfiction books into the world of detective stories would do me some good. I have been an avid mystery fan since my Great Uncle Earl, an interesting character, started giving me Agatha Christie novels as a kid and letting me read all of his old Ellery Queen Magazines. Some of my favorite mystery novels are the works of Dorothy Sayers. Though the mysteries themselves are often somewhat weak, she develops her characters in ways not often seen in the genre. Lord Peter Wimsey, Harriet Vane, and Charles Parker feel like old friends, and the developing relationship between Peter and Harriet is one of the best love stories in modern literature.

I decided to fall into Sayers once again with her collection of short stories, Hangman’s Holiday, and I learned something very interesting. Sayers was no short story author. All of the things that make her mystery novels fun and entertaining are not workable in the context of a short story, and many of the stories in this collection seemed flat and lifeless. Rather than being works of literature, they were mere puzzlers without a lot of human interest. The first two of her Lord Peter stories were fun, but the following stories seemed like good ideas for novels that had ended up on the scrap heap and were resurrected in a much truncated short story format. The next set of stories in the collection focus on another detective, Montague Egg, who turns out to be a rather forgettable wine merchant. I never could bring myself to feel anything more than apathy for Mr. Egg. However, lest these not-so-great stories cause the reader to despair, there are two wonderful gems at the end of the road. The last two stories in the book feature none of Sayers’s serial characters, and are among the best things she ever wrote. They both have a very Alfred Hitchcock feel to them, and the first of the two stories, “The Man Who Knew How,” is one of the best mysteries I’ve ever read. These last two stories make the entire book worth the price.

After being left mostly dissatisfied by Hangman’s Holiday, I decided to go to my other fallback, G.K. Chesterton. Father Brown: The Essential Tales is a collection of Chesterton’s Father Brown detective stories selected and introduced by author P.D. James. There is not a single dud in the whole lot. Chesterton’s stories overflow with life and imagination. Chesterton can create any mood or atmosphere with ease, from jollity to downright creepiness. It doesn’t hurt that Father Brown is an interesting and entertaining character as well. Though he rarely displays a Holmesian attention to tiny details, Father Brown understands people. After all, what else would one expect from a priest who spends all day hearing people’s confessions? The good father’s knowledge of human nature keeps him one step ahead of the criminals and makes him far more humane than any other fictional detective.

Overall, I enjoyed my vacation into detective stories and look forward to the time when I can start in on my copy of The Complete Father Brown to explore the rest of the career of Chesterton’s famous sleuth.

Hangman’s Holiday 3/5 stars
Father Brown: The Essential Tales 5/5 stars

The Astonished Heart

2011-04-29T11:29:00.006-05:00

I picked up the book The Astonished Heart by Robert Capon at a book sale because I had heard many good things about The Supper of the Lamb by the same author. I was expecting a 5 star read on this one, so I was very surprised when this turned out to be a sad little book. Throughout the book Capon gives an overview of the "dismal swamp" (his words, not mine) that is Church History, and makes application to what we should do in our modern situation. Needless to say, the “dismal swamp” view of most of the history of Christianity is rather pessimistic, and I think that Capon views the Church this way because he misses the point of the big story in Scripture.

He starts the book with the common mantra that Christianity is not a religion. Capon simply assumes this to be true, and spends no time proving it from Scripture. In fact, he feels quite free to criticize structures put into place by God in Scripture (for example, the Davidic monarchy) when he feels that they move the people of God closer to the idea of religious institution. Based on this assumption he grades the people of God throughout history on three criteria. First, do they view their community as a religion? If so, they lose points in Capon’s book. Second, do they show signs of institutionalizing themselves: a hierarchy, officers, creeds and rules? If so, once again, they lose points. Third, do they maintain the catholicity of their faith?

Before I begin talking about all the things I found appalling about this book, I do want to be fair and talk about what I view as the strengths of this book. Despite the fact that I disagree with almost all of Capon’s conclusions, I understand the attitude behind them. He is very concerned that people see the special nature of the community of Christ’s body and not fall into the trap of viewing Christianity as one religion among many. He correctly dislikes the idea that Christianity is a philosophy centered on its ideas and doctrines rather than the redeemed people of God centered on the Eucharistic celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection for our salvation. So far, I agree wholeheartedly. However, from this beginning, he concludes that the body of Christ, proclaiming the story of redemption should avoid stepping into the realms of politics, ethics and philosophy. These things, he believes, put the Church in the realm of religion and cause it to be intolerant of sinners rather than welcoming and open. He rightly sees that Jesus didn’t come to establish a new moral philosophy so that we can all be good little boys and girls, but he stops short of the true goal. The story of redemption is the story of the renewal of the entire creation. Jesus didn't come to propose a new philosophy, but He did come to establish a new society, the Church. And the Church is not only a new society, but a new humanity, the beginning of the eschatological state of the human race. As Peter Leithart writes in his book Against Christianity, "...the Church presented herself not as another 'sect' or cult that existed under the umbrella of the polis; she was an alternative governing body for the city and the beginning of a new city."

By refusing to allow the Church to develop along organizational lines, Capon denies the military mission of the Church, given it by Jesus Himself, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20, NASB) As we shall see, it appears that Capon has a particular problem with the “teaching them to observe” part of this commandment. In light of all this, Capon does not see the Church as the triumphant body of Christ which grows and matures in the world, conquering and filling the earth. Rather, he sees the Jerusalem church as a pretty good model and almost everything afterward as a mess.

Tied to this problem is Capon’s view of Scripture. He states that the Scriptures are wholly inspired by God, and yet done in such a way that men simply wrote down what was in their heads, and by God’s providence it so worked out to be just what God wanted them to write. He makes a great point of saying that God’s sovereignty in these matters does not rule out human freedom. I also agree entirely with this. However, when he goes on to speak of Scripture, he seems to forget the providential part of this, and focuses wholly on the human side. So, while giving lip service to the doctrine of inspiration, Capon undermines this by making many liberal assumptions about the Scripture. He presents the Pentateuch as being put together during the Babylonian exile, rather than the Biblically attested Mosaic authorship. He claims that someone other than Paul wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus as opposed to the Biblically attested Pauline authorship. He even criticizes many of the ideas in these later (in his view) epistles as showing evidence of growing institutionalization in the Church. Against all of these assumptions we must stand firm in our understanding of the nature of Scripture. Yes, Scripture came into being as men wrote the thoughts in their heads. However, because of God’s providential control, these words are also the very words of God, pure and simple. They are, as Paul tells Timothy, “god breathed.” Therefore, when we set ourselves up to criticize the statements of Scripture, we are criticizing God Himself and not merely the men who penned these words.

Next, because of his late view on the Pentateuch and the compilation of the Old Testament, Capon misunderstands the whole history of Israel. He considers the Exodus and Exile periods to be the high water marks and the Davidic monarchy the low point. Contrary to this, the Davidic monarchy is at the center of God’s plan for his people in the Old Testament. While there is no time for me to fully make this case in a book review, I will point out that the Old Testament passage most often quoted in the New Testament is Psalm 110, a kingship-oriented psalm. Christ as king and emperor is the most pervasive Christological image in the New Testament, and the proclamation of Jesus as King is at the heart of the gospel.

Naturally with this perspective, Capon views Constantine with disdain, and while recognizing the beauties and longevity of Christendom, considers the whole of Christianity in the Middle Ages to be fundamentally flawed. He traces this flaw throughout the Reformation to the corporate model of the Church adopted in the 19th century. He has a many actually good criticisms of the modern state of the Church, and I sympathize with his perspective just as I sympathize with the concerns that drove him to write this book. However, like his criteria in the beginning of his book, his offered solutions are misguided. He suggests two models which he terms the Alcoholics Anonymous church model and the Marginal-Church model. The ideal for him is a church with, “no established hierarchy, no ministerial offices, no budget, no local paid staff, no endowments, no governing boards, and no real estate. It meets other people’s buildings, uses other people’s coffeepots, and gets its own members to spring for the doughnuts.” In other words, he wants the Church to return to a state of infancy. However, though this may be possible in some cases, it will be impossible for the Church to stay here. If a church is serious about the teachings of Scripture and fulfilling the Great Commission, then the church will grow. If the Church grows it will need those in a teaching office. It will also develop needs among the people. In order to give the teachers the time to devote to the word, officers will have to be appointed to see that people’s needs are met. And so on through the development seen in the book of Acts and straight on up to Elders, Deacons, Bishops, etc. all over again. Growth and maturation is inevitable. I might think I want my kids to stay little forever, but that’s not the way God designed them. They will grow and change throughout their lives, and my relationship with them will change as well. This is not a lamentable state, either in my children or in the body of Christ. Rather, it is the way God designed things to work.

To conclude, it is odd that he praises the Exilic Jews for being “people of the book” while he often marginalizes or ignores the teaching of the Book himself. For example, he thinks that it would be great if churches expected their members to give a percentage of their income rather than just giving toward the budget goal. “Get people to compare what they’re now giving (usually one percent or less) with what they might give if they moved up into the vicinity of, say, five percent.” The Bible actually gives a good number to start with: a tithe of ten percent. As a deacon in our church I know that most of the people in our church do tithe faithfully, because it is taught from the pulpit and from the Bible. There’s no need for the false modesty of suggesting five percent, when God has already given a suggested minimum of ten percent.

A far more problematic example of rejecting the book is the fact that he laments that many churches would fire their pastor for committing adultery. Aren’t we all about forgiveness and restoration? Well, yes we are. And this pastor would be forgiven and welcomed as a member of the church. However, there are requirements for the office of pastor given by Paul in 1 Timothy 3. Of course, Capon believes this was not written by Paul and views it as part of the unfortunate development of “institutionalized religion” in the Church. This leads him also to give the example of the fictional Reverend Elizabeth Smathers, who becomes the pastor of Old First Steeple Church. She soon begins a love affair with the town librarian Ms. Winsome and moves her into the parsonage. After their relationship sours, Ms. Winsome sues Reverend Elizabeth for sexual harassment, and the church people, intolerant wretches, have the un-Christ like gall to remove poor Elizabeth from the office of minister. For shame!

I don’t even know where to begin with that example, but if I did, I’m sure that Robert Capon would accuse me of being moralizing and intolerant. Just like Paul, James and Peter. Yuck. It is true that the Church has many problems, and has had problems throughout history. However, these problems can never be solved by giving lip service to God’s word in every area that we like and rejecting anything in it that conflicts with our sensibilities. We can either stand in judgment over Scripture or allow Scripture to stand in judgment over us. The only thing is, if we choose to do the former, we will have to forgive the watching world when it doesn’t recognize us as “people of the Book.”

1/5 stars

Kristin Lavransdatter

2011-04-27T10:40:00.005-05:00

In pursuit of my interest in all things relating to the history of Northern Europe, and on my wife’s strong recommendation, I read Kristin Lavransdatter, a trilogy of books written by the Norwegian author and Nobel laureate, Sigrid Undset. Comprised of The Bridal Wreath, The Mistress of Husaby, and The Cross, Kristin Lavransdatter is an unusual work of literature. It looks back on the medieval period without the romanticism of many fantasy authors while also avoiding the stark ugliness which characterize many modern “realistic” portrayals of the Middle Ages. In other words, while being a firmly modern writer, she comfortably and capably depicts the time period as it was in accurate detail without feeling the need to push an agenda on the medievals in her portrayal.

However, the portrayal of history, though realistic, is not the central strength of these books. This book is about people. Real people. Flesh and blood people who jump off the page and into the life of the reader. The story follows Kristin, the daughter of Lavrans, a wealthy farmer and respected nobleman, from her birth to death, chronicling her temptations, sins, falls, and triumphs throughout the course of her life. In the first book we see her girlhood and meet the main characters: her faithful Christian father, Lavrans, her betrothed, Simon, and her immature and somewhat disreputable love interest, Erlend, as well as many other people who populate this world. In the second book we see her life as Erlend’s wife, raising her children and attempting to atone for her past sins. In the final book we see her driven hard upon the shores of God’s mercy in the last part of her life.

At many times during the first book, I wanted to hate both Kristin and Erlend, but as the story progressed, I simply wasn’t allowed to do that for long. These characters are not stock figures in a melodrama but real people who fail and repent time and time again. I felt that nothing in the story was forced or false, but that the characters are all understandable in their motives. Though this is a world of suffering and sorrow, it is also a world clearly ruled by a gracious and sovereign God. Unlike many modern novels of the Middle Ages, the depiction of the Church is extremely positive. The Church is the one unchanging and reliable thing in Kristin’s life. The books certainly have their share of bad priests, but the Church overall, and God through the Church, is a nurturing, forgiving and stabilizing force for Kristin. This becomes much more meaningful when one realizes that Sigrid Undset, an atheist scarred by images of World War I, converted to Catholicism while she was writing these books.

Kristin Lavransdatter is a must read for any fan of good writing. In the realm of 20^th century Christian literature in the modern vein, this ranks right up there with Eliot’s Four Quartets, the stories of Flannery O’Connor, and Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, another Christian book just as misinterpreted by its secular admirers. The depiction of God’s word, of humanity, of the Church is piercingly beautiful. I began reading Kristin Lavransdatter for its Northernness. I ended up loving it for its humanity.

5/5 Stars

The Pseudo-Classicist

2011-04-26T06:26:00.002-05:00

"[Mortimer] Adler, founder of the Great Books movement, put it this way: 'Some basic truths are to be found in the great books, but many more errors will also be found there, because a plurality of errors is always to be found for every single truth.' This attitude contrasts with that of the pseudo-classicist who feels that he has entered this great conversation simply because he has obtained a copy of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations and strings a bunch of them together like wash on the line. But it is not enough simply to cite great names from the past, heedless of the great controversies (and wars) they had with one another."

(Douglas Wilson, Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning, p. 84)

The Rule of Faith and Life

2011-04-24T05:59:00.003-05:00

"Whatever is not drawn from the Scriptures, whatever is not built upon them, whatever does not exactly accord with them--however much it may recommend itself by assuming the guise of superior wisdom or be upheld by ancient tradition, by the consent of the learned, or by dint of plausible arguments--is vain, futile, in short, a mere falsehood."

(Herman Witsius, On the Character of a True Theologian, p. 31)

Learning and Teaching

2011-04-23T10:26:00.006-05:00

"...No one teaches well unless he has first learned well; no one learns well unless he learns in order to teach. And both learning and teaching are vain and unprofitable unless accompanied by practice."

(Herman Witsius, On the Character of a True Theologian, p. 28)

Enjoying Literature

2011-04-19T21:45:00.002-05:00

"Unbelievers often attach an almost religious significance to their aesthetic experiences and have to obey their artistic consciences like mystical amoral laws. They often feel a superiority to the great mass of people who turn to books for mere recreation. In contrast, Christians know that 'the vulgar, since they include most of the poor, probably include most of [their] superiors.' They know 'that the salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world.' Therefore they do not object to tales and comedies for mere amusement and refreshment.

"Lewis credits the humanists with the mistakenly serious approach to literature. They could not really bring themselves to believe that the poet cared about the shepherds, lovers, warriors, voyages, and battles. They must be only a disguise for something more 'adult.' The Medieval readers had also believed in a poet's hidden wisdom, but they did not allow the hidden wisdom to obscure the fact that the text before them was 'a noble and joyous history.' Perhaps this was because they had been taught that the multiple meanings of Scripture never abrogated the literal sense. They pressed the siege, wept with the heroine, and shuddered at the monsters."

(Kathryn Lindskoog, Journey into Narnia, p. 79)

Dang it, Paul

2011-04-14T12:23:00.003-05:00

HT: Mark Horne

Marathon Anniversary

2011-04-12T08:05:00.003-05:00

A couple of years ago, I read The Histories by the father of history himself, Herodotus. It is a highly entertaining book that covers the history of the Persian empire leading up to the famous Persian War between Greece and Persia. It is here that we get the stories of the Battle of Marathon, the 300 Spartans, and Plataea among many other delightful rabbit trails and anecdotes. I read the Aubrey de Selincourt translation published by Penguin Classics, but I had been coveting the Landmark Edition of Herodotus ever since I heard it was published. Having read the Landmark Thucydides, I knew that it would be a real treat to be able to read the Landmark Herodotus as well. So, when my wonderful wife got me a Barnes and Noble gift card for Valentine's Day I ordered a copy which is now sitting on my shelf as I wait with eager anticipation to get to it.

In the meantime, I'm listening to a series of lectures put on by professors from various colleges in honor of the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon. There is about a lecture a month given live online for free, and the mp3s are afterward uploaded to the website for download. If Greek history interests you, check out the lectures here and get a copy of Herodotus' Histories.

The Poetic Edda: The Hero Tales

2011-04-10T13:35:00.004-05:00

One of my earliest memories is of waking up in my parents’ bed when I was very young. The light was shining softly through the curtained windows, and the bed was cool. The quiet of the morning was broken only by the chirping of birds and, from the wooded hill behind our house, the unearthly song of the whippoorwill. I don’t know if this is one memory or a series of memories mashed together in my mind. Somehow, it’s not the memory itself that matters, but the feeling of supreme peace and perfection that the memory calls to mind. This feeling is also tied inseparably with memories of my mother singing the song “In the Garden” many times. Along with this prevailing mood, I also have strong memories of a feeling of remoteness or distantness; it is a feeling of magic created by stories of King Arthur or knights in shining armor, a feeling of strong nobility and epic deeds. There is one time of the year in which both of these moods always combine seamlessly into one blissful tapestry, like Eden and Valhalla rolled into one: Christmas. This feeling or mood is indescribable, but I always feel a yearning for it. It is there in Christmastide, and there are a number of other stories, songs and books that kindle the flame. I know it when I feel it, but it’s incredibly hard to put into words.

Imagine my happiness when, in college, I realized that I was not alone in these feelings. C.S. Lewis wrote of the feeling he described as “northernness,” and tied it to the human longing for Joy. Though Lewis himself called the feeling indescribable, I recognized in his descriptions and in what Tolkien wrote of as the “noble northern spirit” the selfsame emotion stirred in me by these memories and stories. For both Tolkien and Lewis, the type of literature that best expresses this mood of the soul is Northern literature, that is the literature of the Norse and Germanic people of the Middle Ages. From my experience, they are absolutely correct. Beowulf and the Saga of the Volsungs are among my favorite books, and when I read the mythological poems of the Poetic Edda, I was delighted by every scrap of poetry in it. Naturally, I had to press onward and read hero poems as well.

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Icelandic poems collected in the 1100s and 1200s, though many of the poems date to a much earlier time period. They are, for the most part, pre-Christian poems, and show the roots of later Norse Sagas. The two main storylines in the poems are those of Helgi and Sigurd. The Sigurd/Gudrun/Atli cycle would eventually be the basis for the Saga of the Volsungs. Also I met an old friend from Anglo-Saxon poetry, Weyland the Smith (here called Weland).

There is a power in Norse poetry not to be found anywhere else. It contains all the magic of Welsh folktales, but with a noble heroism and hardness not found in the Welsh or Celtic stories. It is also fun to see these stories develop over time as different authors and editors arrange and compose material to fit their purposes. For example, the version of the stories composed in Greenland bear a marked difference from those composed in Iceland. I loved the Nibelungenlied and the Saga of the Volsungs, and it was nice to see the thread of the tapestry being woven and created over time. The story told is rich and deep, full of trust, betrayal, and strength in the face of death. I wouldn’t recommend this book for anyone not already familiar with the Norse tales. Read the Saga of the Volsungs first so that you can have a better appreciation for these remarkable poems. Other than that, this is one of the best books I’ve read this year I can’t praise it highly enough.

5/5 Stars

Origins of the Alphabets

2011-04-05T14:25:00.004-05:00

I picked up Origins of the Alphabets by Joseph Naveh at a booksale because it seemed to be the type of thing I would be interested in. I was not disappointed. I love anything to do with archaeology and classical history, so it was a treat for me to read about the origins of alphabetic systems of writing. The author traces the developments of the Phoenecian, Hebrew, Greek, Roman, Aramaic and Arabic alphabets from their common origin to their later stages.

The book is full of great photographs of ancient writing, and is clearly written and easy to read. It appears that it was intended for an introductory college course. Those interested in archaeology or ancient history might get a kick out of this small book; those who are not already interested might find it a bit dry.

4/5 stars

Always Ready

2011-03-29T05:44:00.006-05:00

If you were a soldier in hostile territory, and you were confronted by an unarmed man who wanted to kill you, what would you do? Would you lay down your weapon to make it easier for him to attack? Or would you ward him off with the weapon that you have been issued and trained to use? Clearly, you would do the latter. Why then are most Christians, in the course preparing for the apologetic defense of the faith, taught to do the former? “You must come to common ground with your opponent,” they are told, “and so it would be a mistake to quote the Bible authoritatively or treat God’s Word as infallible in the course of a discussion with a nonbeliever. Lay down your sword, so that your unarmed opponent has a better chance of beating you in the realm of autonomous reason.”

Greg Bahnsen’s book Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith offers a good corrective to this mindset. Rather than teaching Christians how to toss aside their sword, Bahnsen’s intention is to train Christians to use the weapon God has given to defend the faith against attackers. More specifically, Bahnsen teaches a presuppositional approach to apologetics whose purpose is to leave unbelievers with the full sense that they are unarmed and have no defense before the infallible Word of God. Unbelievers, Bahnsen says, occupy a self-defeating worldview that cannot answer even the most basic questions about life without borrowing from theistic belief. It is the job of the Christian apologist to reveal this deficiency and to show that Christianity is the only worldview that makes sense of the world around us.

This is a very powerful book. Bahnsen steers a path between rationalism and a sort of blind fideism by showing that belief in God’s Word is the foundation for, not the rejection of, reason and rational thought. In so doing, he exposes the modernist paradigm into which many Christians have fallen. Bahnsen writes in a way that should be accessible to most readers without watering down his ideas. While it may be difficult at first for readers unused to the basic terminology of philosophy, there is a lot of repetition in the first chapters that should give plenty of time to catch on. Unfortunately, this repetition is the only thing about this book that I found a bit tiresome. The first four sections of the book (107 pages) lay the basic groundwork for his thinking. It is in the fifth section (pages 108-235) that the rubber hits the road and things get really exciting.

In conclusion, many apologetic books teach hand-to-hand combat skills for Christians who have laid aside their sword in the name of common ground. Bahnsen teaches basic sword fighting techniques, using God’s Word effectively to counter unbelieving worldviews. This is a book that all Christians should read, especially Christians who want to be always ready when their faith is challenged to defend the truth of God’s Word.

5/5 stars

You Know You're Into Classical Education When...

2011-03-24T21:44:00.005-05:00

The other day Luther, our five year old, was standing in the kitchen under our hanging fruit basket of death. I say "fruit basket of death" because the chain supporting the basket has a past track record of snapping and dropping oranges, apples and bananas in a rain of destruction below.

My wife, looking nervously at the situation, said, "Luther, I don't know if you should be standing there."

He smirked up at her and replied with a grin, "It's the Sword of Damocles!"

Making Sense of Easter

2011-03-01T19:55:00.003-05:00

Ben Witherington III has a great article in the newest Biblical Archaeology Review. I highly recommend it.

Godly Offspring

2011-02-16T20:28:00.003-05:00

A discussion over on Doug Wilson's blog made me think of this. I know this is the type of thing Mark Horne likes to do, so I hope this isn't too much of a rip-off.

Something the Bible Never Says:

"Has not [the LORD] made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking offspring..." (Malachi 2:15)

Go Packers!

2011-02-07T07:39:00.001-05:00

Mordecai's Anger

2011-02-03T09:19:00.003-05:00

Mordecai in the book of Esther is one of the most ambiguous characters in the Old Testament. However, I had never thought much about Mordecai until reading Peter Leithart's survey of the Old Testament, A House for My Name. Leithart pointed out that there was no law prohibiting an Israelite from doing obeisance before a public official, and that Mordecai was not necessarily justified in refusing to bow to Haman. This makes the story more complex and realistic as well as adding to the tension throughout. I briefly discussed this previously.

Douglas Wilson responded to Leithart's position here, bringing up one very interesting objection dealing with the ancestry of Haman.

Now James Jordan has written an excellent article, answering Wilson's objection and defending the position that Mordecai is an ambiguous fellow. I highly recommend it.

Midterms

2011-01-28T22:31:00.002-05:00

I have the best job in the world. This is not debatable. As a teacher, I get paid to spend all day talking to people about books, history, philosophy, and theology. In other words, I get paid to do what I used to get in trouble for doing on the job. Add to this the fact that I have the brightest students in the world, once again not debatable, and the best curriculum in the world, and the fact that I can justify reading books as part of my job, and you’ll see that I’m a pretty lucky guy. However, even the most fortunate among us have to do work every now and then, and I have to do work twice a year…midterms and final exams. It’s not that I don’t assign papers or do grading any other time. It’s the fact that for midterms and finals, all my students turn in their papers on the same day, and I have exactly one week to grade all of them and write a progress report for each student.

This has been my week for grading midterms. A hundred and sixty-one of them. Worked in between my regular teaching, eating, sleeping, and family schedule. The solution to this has involved lots of soda, coffee, and candy, as well as staying up until three in the morning. So, basically, college life again. By the end of the week, I am victorious, but it is a costly victory. Here is a picture of me as of this morning…

Those Wacky Crusaders

2011-01-26T11:23:00.005-05:00

In one of the classes I teach, we're currently learning about the Crusades, and it brought to mind a funny anecdeote from Jean de Joinville's Life of St. Louis. While on crusade with the King, Jean de Joinville found his tent pitched beside that of the Comte d'Eu. The good count was quite the practical joker, and we get a nice picture of what Crusaders might have done to amuse themselves in their camp.

"I will tell you of the tricks the Count of Eu used to play on us.

I had built a hut, where I used to take my meals, I and my knights lighted through the doorway. Now the doorway gave onto the Count of Eu's quarters; and he, who was very ingenious, made a little machine to throw [rocks] into it, and used to watch when we went to table, and set up his machine in a line with our table and break our jugs and glasses.

I had laid in a stock of hens and capons, and somebody or other had given him a young she-bear, which he let in among my fowls, and it killed a dozen of them, before anyone could get to the spot, while the woman in charge of them was flapping her skirts at the bear."

Oh those wacky Crusaders!

Intro to Charles Williams

2011-01-20T19:54:00.004-05:00

A few years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to the extraordinary (and unusual) fiction of Charles Williams, a fellow Inkling of Lewis and Tolkien. I loved his fiction books, Tolkien notwithstanding, and only last year ventured to read some of his nonfiction. The Figure of Beatrice and Witchcraft were both excellent books, and I'm hopefully going to start a collection of his essays soon. However, when people ask me to describe his opinions or his stories, I'm often at a loss as to where to begin. You see, he was quite a singular person in both literary and theological areas. Fortunately, someone far more articulate than myself has blogged about Williams, and for anyone interested in knowing about this oft-forgotten Inkling, I encourage you to go read this post over at the Rabbit Room.

Singing the Psalms

2011-01-18T07:58:00.003-05:00

"St. Athanasius also suggests that hearing the psalms strengthens the soul in a trinity of ways: The singer learns the facts of Biblical history and prophecy; the Psalter nurtures the emotions; and the psalms deepen the listener's understanding of the Bible's words and of God, because he or she participates intimately in the act of listening. 'And the one who hears is deeply moved, as though he himself were speaking, and is affected by the words of the songs, as if they were his own songs.'" - Man of Blessing: A Life of St. Benedict by Carmen Acevedo Butcher, p. 10

Man of Blessing

2011-01-17T15:43:00.006-05:00

I picked up Man of Blessing: A Life of St. Benedict on a whim. I’ve taught The Rule of St. Benedict a couple of times for a medieval literature course, but all I knew about the man himself was what was presented in the short bio at the beginning of the copy of his Rule. So when I saw this book at the bookstore, I thought that it would be a good opportunity to learn more about the life and character of the famous saint. This was not the thorough and detailed biography I was looking for. It turns out we really don’t have much detailed information about Benedict’s life. Pope Gregory the Great wrote a short hagiography of St. Benedict which gives the same basic information that I already knew as well as a host of miracle stories involving Benedict. However, despite the fact that this book was not the biography I thought it was, I gave it a chance anyway. In the preface, author Carmen Butcher gives her impetus for writing the book. In light of the newest pontiff, Benedict XVI, she decided to write a series of meditations on the saint who supplied the regnal name for 16 popes. There is a brief introduction about medieval biography that talks a bit about Pope Gregory and his account of St. Benedict. The most interesting thing in this part of the book is her discussion of the miracle stories. She is remarkably reticent to take a firm stand on the historicity of the miracles. She affirms that most medieval believers would have taken the miracles at face value, but that sophisticated readers, “would have believed the miracles too, but might have focused primarily on their symbolic significance.” Butcher never states what she herself believes, but the focus of her book is clearly the inspirational quality of the miracles stories rather than their historical accuracy. She begins her story of St. Benedict with an account of his childhood. This was in some ways both the weakest and strongest part of the book. Carmen Butcher is a medieval scholar and professor, and so she knows hers stuff. She is able to paint a good overall picture of what Benedict’s early life would have been like, and what education was like at the time. She also situates the life of St. Benedict historically and gives an overall political background of the day. I particularly enjoyed her discussion of the educational system at the time. Unfortunately, she tries to tie all this to Benedict in a very personal way, when we have no information about what he specifically read and thought in his childhood. “He might have read Seneca’s Stoic description of death, with it’s dismissal of heaven and hell,” “might also have read (and disagreed with) Urorator Cicero’s words on brevity,” “might have met Eastern monastic movement leaders and might have also begun reading the monastic rules circulating around,” “might also have read the Rule composed by the Doctor of Grace,” “He might have experienced sharp loneliness,” and “Maybe he read with poignancy Cicero’s letter to his friend...” We don’t know any of this; did he ever consider any of these things with poignancy? This speculation felt a bit contrived to me. It would have been better for Butcher to simply paint a picture of the world of Benedict’s youth, and then move on to those better known parts of his life. The rest of the book is structured around Benedict’s miracles, presumably following the pattern of Gregory. As I mentioned before, Butcher gives a spiritual lesson from each miracle story, which makes the stories relevant. The humorous nature of many of the stories also makes me think that Benedict needs a nice fictional treatment from someone like Frederick Buechner. The book is good for illustrating the benefits of the Benedictine monasteries and the cultural impact that they had. Simple monks, serving others were able to speak to men in power, help the poor, and spread education, things that many evangelical churches today do not accomplish. It reminded me of some of the things I learned from How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill. This book doesn’t quite hold up as a biography, despite the nice historical discussion of the time period. However, the book is full of great lessons that we all ought to learn, has some good historical background, and has a wonderful bibliography which I fully intend to plunder for further reading. Even if the book does not teach a great deal about Benedict the man, it provides a good overview of the Benedictine ideal. 3/5 stars

Generous Justice

2011-01-14T17:10:00.002-05:00

Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just is an overwhelming book by Pastor Timothy Keller. “Overwhelming in what way?” you might ask. Overwhelming in the sense that there is so much to take in that I’m not exactly sure where to begin. The book is also overwhelmingly Biblical, putting forth the case that social justice is not only the realm of liberal Christians, but a concept and duty that are at the very heart of the gospel itself.

Pastor Keller begins by showing that the words our English Bibles translate as “justice” in the Old Testament, chesedh and mishpat, reflect a merciful attitude toward the widow, orphan, and poor as well as an action that must be taken on behalf of these groups. Throughout the Old Testament, cultures and societies are called righteous or unrighteous based on how they treat the stranger, the widow, the orphan, and the poor. This is because mercy toward the poor and helpless is a reflection of God’s character and person. Whereas the gods of other nations favored the rich who could offer better sacrifices, Yahweh favored the oppressed and destitute. This does not stop with the Old Testament, but continues into the New as well in the teachings of Jesus and the practice of the early Church. Keller shows that the Bible doesn’t fall into a simplistic diagnosis of poverty. It never assumes that poor people are automatically righteous. Nor does it assume that poor people are where they are by their own fault. However, it does assume that the righteous who have been blessed financially ought to help the poor no matter how they became poor and regardless of whether they are “deserving.”

He follows up with a discussion of why we should do justice for the poor. He says that almost all Christians know that they should be helping the poor, and yet they are not. I have to admit that I myself am guilty of this very thing. I have read about, thought about, and blogged about helping the poor, but haven’t honestly sought out opportunities to do so. So why is there this disconnect? Keller says that part of the problem is Christians are often guilted in to helping, and guilt is never a good motivator for charity. Rather, he explains how the atonement of Christ and the doctrine of justification by faith provide the best basis for kindness to the poor. We must truly believe that the Lord of Glory stooped to aid us destitute sinners, undeserving, ungrateful, and openly hostile to our benefactor. Only then can we look at the poor and see ourselves in their place.

Next, Pastor Keller lays out a plan for doing justice. I found this a most interesting part of the book. He outlines three levels of help that can be given to the poor: relief, development, and social reform. Relief simply means giving money and resources. It is the first level of help for the poor. Development means training a person in life skills and financial management so that they can break the cycle of dependency and assume control of their own welfare. Finally social reform means transforming entire communities by creating jobs, co-ops, health care centers, schools, and other programs that will keep money in a poor community from quickly migrating away to more wealthy areas of town. He says that the Church often has a large role in relief and development, but social reform can only occur when Christians willingly move into these poor areas and begin to make connections with the people there, forming organizations that will help them fulfill their goals.

The book is helped greatly by the fact that Pastor Keller is not coming at the issue with a political perspective. We don’t get a rah-rah-Republican, free-market book, but we also don’t get a moralistic, welfare-minded Democrat book either. Keller does a wonderful job being strictly Biblical in his advice and application and simply not caring whether he sounds like a liberal or conservative. This may trouble some readers, but I found it refreshing. A second thing that makes this book so powerful is the personal experience that lies behind it. Keller has been in the trenches practicing what he preaches for twenty years. He doesn’t suggest that all Christians should move to an inner city neighborhood like he did, but his experiences there can be applied everywhere. This book is going to take a lot more thought and some good discussion to organize racing thoughts and make practical application. And if the book does nothing more for someone than to make them think and see the poor around them differently, then the first step will have been taken. I believe that this is a book which all American Christians ought to read.

5/5 stars

Slave

2011-01-12T12:06:00.005-05:00

Okay, so first a bit of criticism. If you look at the trailer for the book Slave: The Hidden Truth about Your Identity in Christ, you will learn that there has been “a conspiracy to cover up a truth that is so essential to the New Testament that without it we misunderstand our relationship to Jesus Christ.” There is a “hidden word that unlocks the believer’s identity,” which John MacArthur says, “…changes everything I perceive about the Christian life.” Wow, it sounds like The DaVinci Code for evangelicals. The back of the book tells me that “English translators perpetrated a fraud…and it’s been purposely hidden and covered up ever since”! Wow! This is going to be great stuff! What is this crazy conspiracy that has completely distorted the Christian faith for 600 years?

Well, opening the book to crack open this mystery, the preface informs me that the Greek word douloV is probably better translated “slave” than “servant” and that this mistranslation somewhat obscures the meaning of the Greek word. MacArthur assures the reader that, “Undoubtedly, the cover-up was not intentional,” and that’s the last we hear of any conspiracy in the book. Wait, what?! I suppose that the book trailer and blurb will probably find more readers for the book than if it were marketed as a straight theology book. However, it would have been nice if the advertising were more along the lines of, “Hey, I think most English versions mistranslate this particular Greek word, and so the full force of these passages is often missed in our Bible studies.”

Aside from the sensationalist marketing strategies, however, the book is quite good. MacArthur shows that we are more than mere “servants of Christ” but are truly “slaves of Christ,” bought with a price and subject to His will alone. The book is well-footnoted, which I appreciate, and MacArthur synthesizes a lot of thought on this idea of being God’s slave into one place. This is somewhat a continuation of one of the main themes of MacArthur’s teaching, namely that we cannot have Jesus as our Savior, if we do not also have Him as our Lord. Overall the best parts of the book are his expositions of Scripture where he unpacks how the slave idea bears on the way we view our relationship with God, while also remembering that we are slaves who have been adopted by our Master and made part of His household. There are a couple of historical excursions that run on a bit long, and it seemed in a couple of places that the book was straying from the main point. However, he ties it all together very nicely in the last chapter summarizing the force and direction of the book, and the Appendix is a wonderful collection of quotes from Church history that show the idea of being Christ’s slave as expressed by great theologians and pastors.

4/5 stars

The Family

2011-01-12T07:08:00.003-05:00

The Family is a book on, what else, the family by J. R. Miller, a pastor in the late 1800s. The book is arranged to highlight the various duties and roles of each member of a Christian family and to give a vision of what a biblical family ought to be. Various chapters focus on the husband, the wife, parents, children, and siblings. Each chapter is full of poetry, hymns, anecdotes, and parables to illustrate his points.

Overall, Miller does a great job of painting a beautiful picture of the family and of showing the nobility and importance of fulfilling god-given roles within the family. I loved his chapter on the wedded life and on husbands in particular. The one problem I have with Miller’s book, and this is kind of a big deal, is that he never really talks about sin or how to deal with sin. He sets up the perfect family life and shows how to achieve it. However, such a life is impossible to achieve without the grace of God and a lot of forgiveness among family members. As my wife is fond of saying, “It doesn’t do to leave sin out of your calculations when dealing with little children.” In the context of a family home imbued with God’s grace and in the constant habit of seeking and giving forgiveness, the guidelines in this book would be an excellent exhortation to faithfulness. However, in the hands of someone simply looking for “the right way to do things,” I can see this book being the source of much frustration with God and with other members of the family when it turns out that they can’t live up to the noble ideals of the book. “But I want my best family now!” So, this book could have used a little pastoral balance. We are all fallen sinners. Even the babies among us, my pastor points out, “are just little sinners waiting for motor skills,” and so grace is the necessary theme of the happy home.

Another thing that may be off-putting to some readers is the fact that the writer is a Victorian. While loving the beautiful language of the book, I felt like I needed a testosterone shot after reading certain portions of it. Somehow, the pre-Victorians seemed to be able to use beautiful language without it becoming sentimental or maudlin (eg.- Jane Austen), but the Victorians often descended into the worst sort of sentimentality. A couple of examples will explain what I mean.

“You have a sister pure as a lily. She has grown up beside you in the shelter of the home. Her eyes have never looked upon anything vile. Her ears have never heard an impure word. Her soul is as white as the snowflakes that fall from the clouds. You love her as you love your own life. You honor her as if she were a queen.”

No. No, I’m afraid your sister is a fallen sinner just like the rest of us. And if her eyes have never looked upon anything vile, it probably means that she is horribly naïve and needs an education. Someone get this woman a copy of Eusebius or Tacitus. Here’s another example:

“Little Willie Newton was a child of about five years old. One day his mother had taken him into her room and prayed for him by name, and when she arose, he exclaimed, ‘Mamma, mamma, I am so glad you told Jesus my name; now he’ll know me when I get to heaven. When the kind angels that carry little children to the Saviour take me and lay me in his arms, Jesus will look at me so pleased and say, “Why this is little Willie Newton; his mother told me about him; how happy I am to see you Willie!” Won’t that be nice, mamma?’”

Eurrgggh… Anyway, in final analysis, this is a good book for reminding people of their god-given duties as members of a Christian family, and is full of good advice. However it is weak on grace and long on sentimentality. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I suddenly feel the need to drink beer and do something manly.

4/5 stars

La Vita Nuova

2011-01-12T07:01:00.008-05:00

True love is theological. This is the conclusion one reaches while reading this early work of the writer of the Divine Comedy. Dante Alighieri wrote La Vita Nuova at the age of twenty-six, shortly after the death of his beloved Beatrice.

On the surface this book is simply a collection of love poetry, displaying all the conventions of courtly love. Boy meets girl. Boy loves girl. Boy is too overcome with a sense of his own unworthiness to ever speak to girl. Girl dies. The end. However, below the surface, this book is a profound reflection on the nature of love and of how human love can lead us to Divine Love. Indeed, Dante becomes a servant of Divine Love throughout the book as he meditates on Beatrice and mourns for Beatrice. In the quality of perfection which she possesses, a quality that is actually a result of Dante’s love for her, Dante sees an image of salvation itself and gives himself wholeheartedly to it. When, in one poem, Dante writes that the inhabitants of heaven plead for God to call Beatrice to join them, God responds:

My well-beloved, suffer that in peace
Your hope remain, while so My pleasure is,
There where one dwells who dreads the loss of her;
And who in Hell unto the doom’d shall say,
‘I have look’d on that for which God’s chosen pray.’

The Church at the time clearly had some problems with this imagery, and tried to censor Dante’s book by removing from it all the theological language. Gone were the references to salvation and benediction from Beatrice. Gone were the overtones of Dante’s encounter with Beatrice and her friend Joan, wherein Dante saw Joan as John the Baptist, the forerunner, and Beatrice as the Mother of Love. Either Dante did not experience these things, in which case he was an over-amorous young man writing blasphemies, or he did experience an unusual mystical vision which should not be tainted by connection with a mere human. However, Charles Williams, scholar and friend of C. S. Lewis, maintains that Dante’s experience was real and not at all unusual. It was the experience of love that all young men encounter when they meet that one girl for the first time. It is the experience of courtship, the thrill of passion, the agony of waiting to hear from the beloved again. Dante truly saw that human love is an image of Divine Love, and that through faithfulness in love, we may progress to faithfulness to Love. This is all fleshed out more fully in the Divine Comedy, where the love of Beatrice very literally leads Dante to heaven.

For those interested in Dante or in the Divine Comedy, I wholeheartedly recommend a study of La Vita Nuova.

5/5 stars

Omnibus V

2011-01-11T21:31:00.004-05:00

I just got my copy of Veritas Press's Omnibus V: The Medieval World textbook hot off the press. Having taught the Omnibus curriculum for 5 years, I have nothing but praise for this series of textbooks. Students read through actual primary sources throughout history from the ancient to the modern world as well as secondary sources related to the historical time period. Along the way are excellent introductory essays to each book, and activities, recitations, and discussions for each one as well.

What Do They Teach Them in These Schools?

2011-01-11T07:43:00.005-05:00

The shooter in Tuscon, Jared Loughner, apparently has a history with Senator Giffords. At a campaign rally in 2007, he became very agitated that she didn't answer his question in a way that satisfied him, and he has apparently been obsessed with her ever since. His question: "What is Government if words have no meaning?" Now, I know this may be stating the obvious, but the kind of guy that asks that sort of question and then obsesses for 4 years about not getting an answer is, to put it mildly, crazy as a sack full of ferrets. It's just one step down from Charles Manson's famous quotation, "If God is one, what is bad?"

Anyway, my sister has pretty well nailed the situation, and I direct you to her insight.

http://eclecticandeccentric.blogspot.com/2011/01/let-brain-exploding-logic-begin.html

Who Said It?

2011-01-09T15:46:00.002-05:00

Let's play a game. Here's how it works--I'll post a quote and see if anyone can guess who said it. If no one guesses, then I'll post the answer on Friday. Here's the quote:

"Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square. Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, William Jennings Bryan, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King--indeed the majority of great reformers in American history--were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their 'personal morality' into public policy debates is a practical absurdity. Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition."

2010 Book Awards and Reading List

2011-01-06T07:27:00.006-05:00

I realize this is about a week late. However, it is time for the 2010 Flying Inn book awards. All books I've read in 2010 are eligible.

Best Fiction book I read this year: Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco

Best History book I read this year: Tie: White Horse King by Benjamin Merkle and Gods Battalions by Rodney Stark

Best overall Nonfiction I read this year: Defending Constantine by Peter Leithart

Most difficult book I read this year: The Figure of Beatrice by Charles Williams

Most Eclectic book I read this year: The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek by Barry Cunliffe

Most Beautiful book I read this year: Tristan and Iseult by Joseph Bedier (Hilaire Belloc, trans.)

And here is my 2010 book list:

Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers 12/10

The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross 12/10

Kristin Lavransdatter: The Bridal Wreath by Sigrid Undset 12/10

Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen 12/10

From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics by Louis Markos 12/10

Blessed are the Hungry by Peter Leithart 12/10

Defending Constantine by Peter Leithart 11/10

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence 11/10

The Seven Deadly Sins and Spiritual Transformation by John Mabray 11/10

The Greek Way by Edith Hamilton 11/10

The Echo of Greece by Edith Hamilton 10/10

Betjeman: A Life by A.N. Wilson 10/10

War and the Iliad by Simone Weil and Rachel Bespaloff 10/10

Witchcraft by Charles Williams 10/10

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 10/10

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder 9/10

The Children of Men by P.D. James 9/10

How to Be a Gentleman: A Timely Guide to Timeless Wisdom by John Bridges 9/10

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco 9/10

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett 8/10

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell 8/10

Creed without Chaos: Exploring Theology in the Writings of Dorothy L. Sayers by Laura K. Simmons 8/10

Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays (A.C. Cawley, ed.) 8/10

The Argument Builder by Shelly Johnson 8/10

The Hollow by Agatha Christie 8/10

Why the Jews Rejected Jesus by David Klinghoffer 8/10

The Great Mystery: How Can Three Be One? by Christian W.H. Pauli (Hirsch Prinz/Rabbi Tzvi Nassi) 8/10

Dorothy L. Sayers: The Centenary Celebration (Alzina Stone Dale, ed.) 8/10

Persuasion by Jane Austen 8/10

Medieval Romances (Roger Sherman Loomis, trans.) 7/10

The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle 7/10

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins 7/10

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle 7/10

A Light in the Window by Jan Karon 7/10

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White 7/10

Knowing God by J.I. Packer 7/10

The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle 7/10

Phantastes by George MacDonald 7/10

The Thinking Toolbox by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn 7/10

Mythology by Edith Hamilton 7/10

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon 7/10

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (William Butcher, trans.) 7/10

Viking Adventure by Clyde Robert Bulla 6/10

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder 6/10

Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare 6/10

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle 6/10

Aesop's Fables (Jack Zipes, ed.) 6/10

The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle 6/10

Augustus Caesar's World by Genevieve Foster 6/10

Art and the Bible by Francis Schaeffer 5/10

Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright 5/10

J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphry Carpenter 5/10

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl 5/10

Chronicles of the Crusades by Joinville and Villehardouin (M.R.B. Shaw, trans.) 5/10

The Barefoot Book of Knights by John Matthews 5/10

On Something by Hilaire Belloc 5/10

Brightest Heaven of Invention by Peter Leithart 5/10

Le Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Malory (Keith Baines, trans.) 4/10

Davy Crockett and the Indian Secret by James Lawrence 4/10

The Real Lincoln by Thomas Dilorenzo 4/10

Saint Thomas Aquinas: "The Dumb Ox" by G.K. Chesterton 4/10

So Brave, Young and Handsome by Lief Enger 4/10

The Figure of Beatrice by Charles Williams 3/10

Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot 3/10

Dove Descending: A Journey into T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets by Thomas Howard 3/10

God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark 3/10

The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton 3/10

All Hallows' Eve by Charles Williams 3/10

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl 3/10

The White Horse King: The Life of Alfred the Great by Benjamin Merkle 3/10

The Life of Charlemagne by Einhard (Lewis Thorpe, trans.) 3/10

The Paideia of God by Douglas Wilson 3/10

The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek by Barry Cunliffe 3/10

The Annals of Imperial Rome by Tacitus (Michael Grant, trans.) 3/10

A Short History of England by G. K. Chesterton 3/10

Creation in Six Days by James B. Jordan 2/10

How to Live with a Neurotic Cat by Stephen Baker 2/10

Cicero: Selected Works (Michael Grant, trans.) 2/10

The Romance of Tristan and Iseult by Joseph Bédier (Hilaire Belloc, trans.) 2/10

The War with Hannibal by Livy (Aubrey de Sélincourt, trans.) 2/10

Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers 1/10

On the Nature of Things by Lucretius (W. E. Leonard, trans.) 1/10

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett 1/10