Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Moving to Wordpress!
Monday, March 26, 2012
Review | Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One is not a literary masterpiece by any means, but it’s been a long time since I had this much fun reading a novel.
Ready Player One takes place in a near future in which human society is on the verge of collapse (sounds fun already!), and everyone has taken refuge in a massive online simulation known as the OASIS. The OASIS’ creator, James Halliday, dies an old man, leaving a will that initiates a contest inside the simulation, the winner of which will inherit all of his vast wealth, as well as control over the OASIS. The “Easter Egg,” as the ultimate goal of the contest is known, can only be found by locating – inside the OASIS – three keys that open three gates, each of which opens to an unknown challenge. Halliday, a child of the ‘80s, leaves no clue to the whereabouts of the keys except for his journal, which contains his musings on his life, the human condition, and – most importantly – the pop culture of the age of excess.
In the beginning, the contest seems to captivate the entire population of the globe, but over time interest wanes. Only a relatively small group of people known as “gunters” – short for “egg hunters” – continue the quest, immersing themselves in all the things that Halliday loved in the hopes that this will direct them to the location of the first key. Finally, years after Halliday’s death, an OASIS avatar named Parzival (his name is Wade in the real world) – our hero – finds it, setting the story in motion.
Let me put this right out there – for those of you who don’t already know. I’m a geek. I grew up in the ‘80s. Cline wrote this book for me people like me. It’s overflowing with random movie lines (“Dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!”), references to comic books, video games, sci-fi and fantasy novels. And the highest geekery of all, Dungeons & Dragons plays a major role in the plot early on. (To be fair to myself, I was never THAT into D&D, though I have played my share of RPGs*.) These little nuggets often made me laugh out loud, which I rarely do when reading.
Apart from this, the story moves along at a lightning pace, making Cline’s too-frequent forays into long-winded exposition bearable. (Though, perhaps this was purposeful. I’ve read many a science fiction novel, and I’ve never met a sci-fi author who didn’t LOVE exposition!) The primary line of the plot follows the adventures of Parzival and his friends inside the OASIS, but chilling and compelling events take place in the real world as well. And these serve to get the reader truly invested.
The narrator’s voice is a little weak. There’s too much telling instead of showing. The characters aren’t terribly developed, though there is a little to hang on to. But I’m willing to bet Cline had an absolute blast writing this because that’s what comes across on the page.
For my Christian readers out there who may be concerned about these things, there is some profanity and a somewhat prolonged discussion of a particular sexual activity that is pretty crass, which is to be expected with these characters in this world. Overall, it was bearable in my opinion. If it were a movie, it would probably garner a PG-13 rating.
Ready Player One is a really good story set in a vivid world and told with imagination and childlike joy. This is escapist fare in the best sense of the term.
*Role Playing Games, for the uninitiated.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Review | Earthen Vessels by Matthew Lee Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Matthew Lee Anderson’s Earthen Vessels is a hard book to pin down. The author’s voice is at once conversational and classical. (With titles like, “Preface: In Which I Clear My Throat,” I was often reminded, stylistically, of C.S. Lewis or G.K. Chesterton.) And while he is not afraid of big words, he is somehow deceptively simple in his delivery. Imagine you have an old high school friend who grew up to be a philosopher and you guys get together for a cup of coffee – that’s Anderson’s style.
His tone belies the depth of his subject – “why our bodies matter to our faith” – but this is not a weakness. On the contrary, Earthen Vessels could have read like a text book, but it doesn’t. It’s a much, much easier read than it has any right to be.
Anderson presents as the basis for his book the idea that our physical bodies are “the place of our personal presence in the world.” (pg. 233) As such, we cannot separate our bodies from ourselves as easily as we sometimes try to (philosophically, at least). And in fact, Christ took on a human body, and He “died to save and renew human bodies.” (pg. 16) Therefore, we are inseparable from our bodies. There’s a lot of very interesting philosophical delving here to elaborate and drive the point home.
Once that premise is established, Anderson takes us on a wide-ranging journey into topics as varied as pleasure, tattoos, homosexuality, and death and the implications they hold for our bodies and our faith.
Earthen Vessels covers a great deal of ground in its 230 or so pages. The book may leave you with more questions than it answers, but Anderson’s purpose in these pages is to start a conversation rather than end it.
It takes a while to wrestle with all these topics, and it is not for the casual reader. As I’ve said, the book was easy enough to read, but understanding what you’ve read takes some serious thought. Unless you’re some kind of genius, it may take a second or even a third read. However, it’s worth the time. There’s a lot of meat to chew on here, and that’s something that is sorely missing in most Christian literature. I definitely recommend Earthen Vessels.
I received this book for free from Bethany House Publishers for this review as part of their blogger review program.
View all my reviews
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Review | Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As someone who geeks out a little over Silicon Valley history and the birth of the personal computer, the first several chapters of Walter Isaacson's biography of the iconic Apple CEO were particularly engaging. While the rest of the book was not quite as exciting to read, it was still worthwhile.
Isaacson's style is conversational and easy, making for a quick, fluid 571 pages. At times he leaves out details that might better inform certain situations, but this may have be necessary in keeping the focus on Jobs rather than on Apple and its products.
The book doesn't sugarcoat Jobs. Indeed, there would be no point, since his perfectionism and brutality are legendary - at least to those who are fans of Apple. He is presented here as, quite honestly, a jerk. He is also presented as a genius. He is presented as not much of a father but as a great corporate leader. All are probably true.
However, Isaacson does show his bias when it comes to the company Jobs started and saved and its products. Sometimes he seems so in love with Apple, Inc. that it annoys even me! (I'm a proud Mac and iPhone user and Macworld.com reader.)
In the end, the book certainly gives one a well-rounded view of Steve Jobs, his relationships - both personal and professional - and the company he built. Definitely a worthy read.
View all my reviews
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Great Bible Giveaway - and Maybe an iPad!
By visiting the giveaway entry page (located on the NLT Facebook page, the link is under the profile picture) and entering your name and e-mail address you'll be entered to win the following prizes:
- One random person each day will win a Life Application Study Bible Family Pack (Guys Life Application Study Bible hc, Girls Life Application Study Bible hc, Student's Life Application Study Bible hc, Life Application Study Bible hc, Life Application Study Bible Large Print hc).
- One Random person each week will win an Apple iPad 2!
Enjoy!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Review | The Historical Jesus: Five Views
Just a heads up: This one is pretty academic and may not be for everyone. I actually wrote it for a seminary class but thought I'd share it with all of you.
Bethel University professors James K. Bielby and Paul Rhodes Eddy have put together a volume in The Historical Jesus: Five Views that provides a glimpse into the broad range of perspectives found among those who quest for the historical Jesus. Robert M. Price, a professor at Johnny Coleman Theological Seminary, begins the book with the most radical of views, followed by DePaul University emeritus professor of religious studies John Dominic Crossan. The works gradually move through the center toward the conservative end of the spectrum with essays by Emory University professor Luke Timothy Johnson and Durham University professor James D. G. Dunn. Finally, the book draws to a conservative close with an essay by Darrell L. Bock, research professor of New Testament studies, Dallas Theological Seminary.
The Historical Jesus begins with a survey of the quest for the historical Jesus, covering its beginnings in the late eighteenth century to today. Bielby and Rhodes provide the reader with a quick glimpse of each separate quest – or stage of the overall quest – as well as the views that drove it or, at times, brought it to a halt. The editors do not bring their own views to bear. They leave that to the contributors.
Their introduction is followed by each contributor’s essay, in which he puts forth his view. Each essay is then followed by responses from each of the other four authors.
Price’s essay, “Jesus at the Vanishing Point,” is easily the most liberal and radical. He has no qualms about sharing his view with the reader. “I will argue that it is quite likely there never was any historical Jesus” (55). He then proceeds to completely deconstruct the Gospels. He does this by relying on the criterion of dissimilarity and the idea that each of the Gospel stories is simply a retelling of an Old Testament story.
John Dominic Crossan’s work “Jesus and the Challenge of Collaborative Eschatology” reduces Jesus to a simple nonviolent revolutionary whose battle was against the Roman Empire. Though not the Messiah, he says, some Jews saw Jesus as “a nonviolent Davidic Messiah” (120). He attributes those of Jesus’ actions in the Gospels that he deems historically accurate to a political motivation, and the crufixion he attributes to Rome’s standard policy in dealing with nonviolent rebels.
Next comes “Learning the Human Jesus” by Luke Timothy Johnson. His conclusions are moderate when compared to those of his fellow contributors. Leaning more toward acceptance of the Gospels' portrayal of Jesus, he writes that, when taken strictly as narrative, the Gospels provide a valid perspective on the character of Jesus. The question of character “is a question that narrative is distinctly capable of addressing” (173). Johnson still doubts the historical validity of the Gospels.
James D. G. Dunn writes the essay “Remembering Jesus,” in which he accepts a faith-based viewing of the Gospels as a valid historical perspective. He states, “…it is the ear of faith which is likely to hear the Gospels most effectively” (225). Dunn seeks to convince the reader that the right course in the quest is to look for those characteristics of Jesus that can be seen across the Gospels (220). Dunn does not accept all the Gospel material as true, though he is more conservative than prior contributors.
Darrell L. Bock shows himself to hold the truly conservative view in this work. The entirety of his essay, “The Historical Jesus,” gives the reader a view of Jesus as He appears in the Gospels, spelling out His character and motivations as exhibited by His actions. Bock declares that the Gospels’ picture of a “messianic Jesus who saw himself standing at the hub of God’s program and completely vindicated as Son of Man at God’s side” (281) is the most accurate view to take.
In this reviewer’s opinion, Price’s view is the least well-researched. It appears to be based entirely on his own biases and reading of other liberal theologians, rather than on arguments from factual data. The essay’s greatest weakness is his stretching of the criterion of dissimilarity to contend that the Gospel stories are simple reworkings of Old Testament stories. While this reviewer doubts that the criterion in question has any value whatsoever, even the other authors in The Historical Jesus take issue with Price’s use of it. Dunn writes, “Such an extension of the criterion of dissimilarity simply undermines what value it has” (95).
Crossan’s view, while perhaps more informed, is no less biased. He draws upon a great deal of extrabiblical historical knowledge – some of which is dubious at best – but he discounts nearly as much of the Gospel material as does Price. He believes Jesus existed, but his picture of Jesus is shaped by his own values and knowledge of the fishing industry in ancient Palestine (116). Even Price states that Crossan reduces “Jesus to a function of the categories and methods through which he has decided to study him.” (133). Crossan infers in his essay, and outright insists in his response to Dunn, that the Jesus of the Gospels who taught love and pacifism cannot be the same as the Jesus of revelation who will return in violence (234). For Crossan, nonviolence is the one defining characteristic of Jesus, whose life and death hinge on “the crucial difference… between the eschatological kingdom of God and the imperial kingdom of Rome,” which is “Jesus’ nonviolence and Pilate’s violence” (132).
Johnson and Dunn, while espousing slightly different views, straddle the center. Johnson leans more heavily toward the liberal side, and Dunn leans toward the conservative side. However, they both – like the more liberal contributors to this book – rely on sources like Q that may or may not exist to determine which parts of the Gospel are true. For a conservative reviewer, Dunn’s view is easier to swallow, since he accepts faith as a valid historical perspective. Johnson, however, seems inexplicably to accept faith as faith and historical knowledge as something else altogether.
Bock is the one among these contributors who takes the Gospel texts seriously. He writes that the Gospels provide “a multiperspectival impression” that “can be as historical as the autobiographical words of the individual” (251). From there he provides a historical view of Jesus that is drawn entirely from Scripture and, therefore, reads more like a sermon – with generally solid exegesis – than the apparently scholarly views of the other contributors. The only real weakness this reviewer found in Bock’s contribution was that it might have fit better in a different book, but that appears to have been the point of The Historical Jesus: Five Views.
The Historical Jesus is a worthy read, providing opposing perspectives against which to hone one’s views. It strengthened this reader’s trust in the Gospels as the only reliable picture of the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith, who are one and the same.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Woe to you...
Matthew 23:13-30 - "Eight Woes"
I find the Pharisees to be - perhaps strangely - a strong example of how easily human nature comes between us and the truth of the Gospel. The roots of Pharisaism were in a movement meant to return Jews to right belief and right practice at a time when pagan culture (namely Greek) was overtaking their own culture and religious practices (the period between the Old and New Testaments). Instead, as evidenced in Jesus' words here, they created a set of rules that actually drew them away from what God really wanted.
So, what does this have to do with human nature? Humans like rules. I know, most people would disagree. We don't want to be told what to do, but think about it. We'd rather have rules that clearly define how we get to Heaven (Be good! Don't hurt people!) than deal with this ethereal "relationship with God" thing. It's easier!
Scripture points us to right behavior, but it is also clear that right behavior is meaningless without the right heart. Otherwise, why would Jesus come down on the Pharisees here?
It's also easier when the rules serve to make me look good without my having to worry about other people.
You see, the Pharisees missed the point - the Law never saved anyone, not even a Jew. The Law existed for the people to maintain relationships with God and one another. Hence, the two greatest commandments:
'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 22:36b-40If that wasn't happening, the Law wasn't serving its purpose.
Sadly, many Christians - those of us who live under the New Covenant in which Christ has fulfilled the Law - still want it this way. We want the rules. Even though they don't teach this way with words, many churches teach this way by example. It's not about going to Bible study or Sunday morning worship or putting in time in the food pantry. Those things are all good things, but they must all grow out of love.
This is not to say there is no place in the Christian life for duty. Let's face it. Sometimes, we don't feel like doing the things that we know we ought to do. We should do them anyway because they are our duty as followers of Jesus.
It's a line that is easy to cross, as the Pharisees show us. We must do our duty, but we don't just do it for the sake of duty. We do our duty because we love the God who first loved us and the people whom He loves.
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