So Many Books; So little Time

Out to Canaan

Out to Canaan

by Jan Karon

c. 1997

Welcome back to MItford! This is Jan Karon’s fourth journey in to the small North Carolina town where we once again spend time with Father Tim, his lovely wife Cynthia, the lost and found boy Dooley, and all the rest of the gang.

In this volume, Esther Cunningham is opposed in her re-election bid for mayor by a man many question on several levels. Fernbank, which Miss Sadie failed to take exemplary care of is in danger of falling down and must be sold. Someone wants to buy the rectory. Joe Ivy leaves town and Winnie has an offer on the bake shop so she can follow him. And all this adds up to a mystery that leads to the question, has Father Tim made an enemy for life somewhere?

We also spend time with Pauline, Dooley’s recovering mother, and PooBah as Father Tim faces the question of finding Pauline’s other children. Lace brings another friend in to Father Tim’s life but an old and dear friend goes home. And, yes, Barnabas is back–that scripture obeying dog who really wants to do away with that most famous of cats, Violet. Meanwhile, Violet has moved into the rectory–kind of–she lives just out of Barnabas’ reach on top of the refrigerator.

This book is just as funny and down to earth as the first three and is almost enough to make you want to move to Mitford. Yes, there is romance in here and Father Tim acquires two new nicknames that make his heart soar. He also still fights with his diabetes and also with a teenager who wants to learn to drive. But the age-old question is also answered–will Esther Bolick take the Orange Marmalade Cake recipe to her grave?

Just lots of fun and the gospel too. Look for old friends to come back and memories to be shared. There is nothing so wonderful as being reunited with old friends. If it’s been a while since you’ve visited Father Tim, this volume will warm your heart with laughter and tears.

The Secret Supper

The Secret Supper

by Javier Sierra

c. 2004

translated by Alberto Manguel

The Secret Supper is a historical novel of the painting of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. Unlike another more popular book this book takes place in 1497 in MIlan, Italy. The narrator is a priest from Rome who is sent to the Dominican monestary where The Last Supper is a work in progress and has been for nearly 3 years. He goes there to solve a riddle that will lead him to a “Soothsayer” who has been feeding information to Rome on the heretical beliefs of Leonardo da Vinci.

This book took three years of research into the Cathars and the beliefs of da Vinci before being written in Spain. Each of the characteristics of the beliefs of the Cathars and the idiosyncracies of da Vinci are taken into account in the writing of this novel. You won’t look at the Last Supper the same way again. The painting is featured on the endsheets and I found myself referring to them often as the characters study the work in progress.

Sierra presents parts of the painting that most people miss–the one knot on the tablecloth on the far right, the dagger in Peter’s hand, the absence of the cup and the hand of Christ and the hand of Judas reaching for a piece of bread. The characters also note many missing things in addition to the cup. They note that gone is the passover lamb and instead a fish is on the table. He also suggests certain fictional people for the faces of the disciples in the painting. He also suggests that da Vinci never intended the painting to last but to be copied many times as a way to convert the populace.

Interesting concepts, well researched, and interesting characters but it’s not exactly a page-turner. It leads to a lot of questions as to the true beliefs of the Cathars and da Vinci. It also brings to light the Gnostic Gospels and the lengths the Catholic church in Rome would go to to fight any opposition to its power. It also shows the edges of the corruption among the wealthy in the late 15th century.

Not controversial which is probably why it’s not as well known as a certain other work which we have all heard of and which was made into a movie. In my opinion, this would make a better movie.

Lessons I Learned in the Dark

Lessons I Learned in the Dark: Steps to Walking by Faith, Not By Sight

by Jennifer Rothschild

c. 2002

Jennifer Rothschild is a blind singer, speaker and writer who shows us how her blindness has made her faithwalk deeper in this, her first book. She begins by telling us of the day she learned she was going to be completely blind. She takes us through her remaining high school days and into her college years. She takes us to parenting and teaches us how to put on make-up with sightless eyes. But more important she tells us how being blind has worked in her favor and brought her closer to Christ.

How? Because she is so dependent on others in her blindness that she understands all too well how she must be just as dependent on God all the time. Yes, she had problems adapting to a white cane just as she and we have problems adapting to letting go and letting God. But every step of the way she has learned to wait on that dependance. On campus she learned to depend on her cane and prayer to cross a busy street to go to and from the chapel. And she learned it by not depending or praying on the way across off campus and so realizing that she had to wait and pray for someone to help her back across.

What Jennifer finds in the dark of her life, she relates to the spiritual life we all live. If only we could all walk by faith the way she does, we would all be much happier in our lives. Which is not to say that she is always blissful and patient but she is getting there with a little help from friends, husband, children and God.

Short chapters that are filled with every day humor and are easy to read. Each chapter is seperated from the next by the words to a song, most of which were written by Jennifer herself. This is a highly uplifting book that will challenge you to a deeper faith.

People of the Sea

People of the Sea: The Search for the Philistines

by Trude Dothan and Moshe Dothan

c. 1992

Trude and Moshe Dothan are Israeli archeologists who have spent their lives searching the coastal areas of Israel for the cities of the Philistines listed in the Old Testament, primarily the sections dealing with David and Samson. What they found surprised them just a bit. They expected to find warrior barbarians but instead found the farming homes and cities that the warriors left behind and went home to each night.

They went looking for where these peoples came from and how they came to settle in the area. In doing so they started with the assumption that they came from Cyprus and in looking at pottery, they could confirm that but they also found considerable Egyptian influence as well.

This book is well written with the authors writing in tandem concerning the areas they worked on. They looked at pottery, funeral jars, and wall motifs as well as the architecture of the buildings they were excavating. I would not recommend the work for children, however, due to the fact that the reader needs some background in archeology, primarily in how digs are run and types of pottery to adequately understand what is being described though the work is filled with many pictures and diagrams.

The authors refer specifically to scriptures in their writing and quote them directly which is a plus. They also refer to all religions as “cult practices” which is also a plus though they refer to Jewish beliefs in the same way the one time they are mentioned. Another plus for younger readers is that they never describe Philistine sacrifices but only refer to sacrificial altars and utinsils.

This is the beginning of a look at the common Philistine and not the warriors we read about in the Bible. This is a good work for background puposes but not an end-all work. No complete conclusions are reaches as is the case in most archeology. The Dothans end the book with more questions than answers though they do confirm many scriptures such as that Ekron would be uprooted. No city has been rebuilt on the sight of Ekron making it an easy site to excavate.

Biblically and historically based. This is a good archeological overview for the archeologically minded scholar.

Countering the Claims of Evangelical Feminism

Countering the Claims of Evangelical Feminism: Biblical Responses to the Key Questions

by Wayne Grudem

c. 2006

What role does the Bible really set up for women? Are they to sit and be silent or do they have a specific calling to ministry? Has society changed so much that the teachings of Paul no longer apply? Were there women pastors in the New Testament church? What does the Bible teach about authority, head coverings, prophecy, slavery, and jewelry in regard to women’s roles? Did the New Testament leaders view women as uneducated, lesser beings?

Wayne Grudem answers these and many other questions relating to Women in Ministry in this book. He uses scripture and contemporary Greek secular works to look at what the original words meant to the audience for which the scriptures were written. He actually counts the number of times certain Greek words were used in certain types of context.

This work is an abreviated version of his earlier work Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth: An Analysis of More Than 100 Disputed Questions which runs 900+ pages. This work, which refers to the larger work an outrageous number of times, is a mere 300 pages. It is full of questions and answers and is fully backed by both scripture and secular references.

In answer to the question “can women have a ministry?” the answer is “yes” but Grudem draws the line at a woman being in any kind of authority over a man such as pastoring or being a deacon in a church. Teaching in private side by side with her husband is a different matter entirely. Teaching a group of high school boys in Sunday School or youth group, for Grudem, is also allowable due to the age of the boys, i.e. they would still be under the authority of their mothers in the home.

Grudem gives each question its own chapter and most run only 3-5 pages. He gives the feminist claim backed up with footnotes and quotes from writers in the Evangelical Feminism movement. (He also has a bibliography of Evangelical Feminist works at the end of the book.) He then answers each question, not once, but backed by at least two other scenarios and scriptures.

Even if you don’t agree with him totally, this work makes for an interesting discussion and study. It is well written in an engaging style. He doesn’t use a lot of theological or Greek words but uses common English for common folks. He states his thoughts without talking down to the reader. Except for the first couple of chapters which are long, this would be a great book to use in a Bible Study for women seeking to find their place in the Ministry of Jesus Christ.

The Demon in the Freezer

The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story

by Richard Preston

c. 2002

Richard Preston is the author of The Hot Zone and The Cobra Event. He is the only non-doctor to have been awarded the CDC’s Champion of Prevention Award. So, it is not a coincidence that he was invited after September 11 and the Anthrax mailings to write about Smallpox and what COULD happen if smallpox seeds fell into the wrong hands.

Officially, smallpox has been eliminated from the planet. It is the only disease that has been eliminated from the planet. Diseases are not considered benign things by biologists but living organisms and it was thought for decades that it would be impossible to completely eliminate one. Preston takes us on the journey to eliminate smallpox from the development of the vaccination technique to the last victim, Rahima, on the small island of Bhola.

He then shares with us the official word of where the smallpox seeds are, how they have been collected, how many there are, and, most importantly, how they are being stored. He also shares with us the unofficial knowledge that the former Soviet Union was doing work with smallpox and developing weapons grade smallpox by the ton and also developed a delivery system. Then, of course, the Soviet Union broke up and what happened to that smallpox is anybody’s guess. But, of course, officially it doesn’t exist.

Preston takes us on another journey or two in this short book of 233 pages. He takes us inside the CDC and USAMRID and lets us meet researchers who worked on the Anthrax mailed to Senator Tom Daschle and others and we learn what sort of anthrax it was, how it was made and possibly even who or what sort of person would and did mail it. 

More importantly we meet the researchers working at the CDC with smallpox trying to determine what would happen if or when smallpox recurs on the planet. The end of the book is concerned with an even more important question. Researchers in Australia developed a mousepox strain using IL-4 (a naturally occuring mouse gene) that completely wiped out 100% of the mice it came in contact with. So, Preston went into the lab with a researcher to re-create their results. In five months they had a strain that killed 100% of mice naturally resistant to mousepox.

IL-4 insertion is public knowledge and cannot be banned from being such.  That said, IF someone COULD or DOES get ahold of smallpox seeds (and there are some really deadly ones stored at the CDC and in the former Soviet Union), it would take about six or seven months for that person to kill off most or all of the human population of the WORLD should they be lacking a conscience and self-preservation.

If this book and its message doesn’t scare you to what a nut with a laboratory could do, your head has been in the sand too long.

Epics of Early Civilization

Epics of Early Civilization: Middle Eastern Myths

c. 1998 by Duncan Baird Publishers

This book is not for everyone. In fact, like many books and other types of writings, in the wrong hands, this could be detrimental.

This book is a well-written account of the myths surrounding the gods of the ancient middle eastern peoples by tribe. It does not discuss the various sacrifices and times of sacrifice or the reason for the sacrifice but deals only with the myths and stories surrounding the characters these various tribes considered their gods. It is much like reading a book on classic Greek or Roman gods and goddesses in that it details them as people who lived, died, loved, and lived again, sometimes many times.

The book is very readable and well illustrated with photographs and drawings from archeological digs in the area. It does not promote the gods or goddesses and does not disdain or even mention the one true living God but merely tells the stories as gleaned from ancient writings and compiled into one. Sidebars add much to the stories.

I would recommend this book to a serious theologian or a strong Christian who wants to understand what the people living in the time of David believed but I wouldn’t give it to someone I thought would actually start believing the various myths and stories were actually true. This is one of those books that can add to the history of the people but can also give just enough information to make someone curious and pull them away from the truth.