Christianity

Oct 25 2011

God Is Red by Liao Yiwu

If you feel sorry for yourself, read this book. If you think American politics are bad, read this book. If you need some inspiration for your faith, read this book.

What book? you ask.  God Is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China

 

When journalist Liao Yiwu first stumbled upon a vibrant Christian community in the officially secular China, he knew little about Christianity. In fact, he’d been taught that religion was evil, and that those who believed in it were deluded, cultists, or imperialist spies. But as a writer whose work has been banned in China and has even landed him in jail, Liao felt a kinship with Chinese Christians in their unwavering commitment to the freedom of expression and to finding meaning in a tumultuous society.

Unwilling to let his nation lose memory of its past or deny its present, Liao set out to document the untold stories of brave believers whose totalitarian government could not break their faith in God, including:

  • The over-100-year-old nun who persevered in spite of beatings, famine, and decades of physical labor, and still fights for the rightful return of church land seized by the government
  • The surgeon who gave up a lucrative Communist hospital administrator position to treat villagers for free in the remote, mountainous regions of southwestern China
  • The Protestant minister, now memorialized in London’s Westminster Abbey, who was executed during the Cultural Revolution as “an incorrigible counterrevolutionary”

This ultimately triumphant tale of a vibrant church thriving against all odds serves as both a powerful conversation about politics and spirituality and a moving tribute to China’s valiant shepherds of faith, who prove that a totalitarian government cannot control what is in people’s hearts.

Liao Yiwu mostly lets the people he interviews speak for themselves (but offering some rather poetic introductions and descriptions along the way) in this fascinating look at the people who gave everything they had to help grow the Christian church in China.  As a result, he book reads more like a journal or series of vignettes than a stand alone book – it really is a collection of interviews – but because the underlying stories are so powerful this style and structure is easily overcome.  And it’s simplicity and straightforward witness adds to its power. Yiwu focuses mostly on rural areas and the villages that embraced the Christian faith in the early part of the Twentieth Century only to have the horrors of communism and the Cultural Revolution bring suffering and persecution in ways that are almost impossible for Westerners to imagine.
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By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 1 • Tags: , , , , , ,

Oct 23 2011

Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity by James Mulholland

I picked up Praying Like Jesus: The Lord’s Prayer in a Culture of Prosperity for a dollar or two at Half-Price Books because I enjoy short (raises the odds that I will read them) and pointed books on important topics and this seemed to fit the bill.

James Mulholland is alarmed at the success of recent books that he feels are based on a false understanding of prayer and a false gospel of personal gain. “We so quickly forget the point of prayer. The point of prayer is not to tell god what you want, but to hear what you need. It is not approaching God with our demands, but listening for God’s commands. It is not seeking our will, but learning to discern God’s will. This is so important to understand in a culture that caters to our every whim. Prayer isn’t about me. It is about God.”

Mulholland offers an expansive meditation on the simple, yet powerful verses of The Lord’s Prayer. Praying Like Jesus is an important and timely call back to a vision of the gospel that can transform our world, and a primer on the true role of prayer in our lives.

 

The obvious hook for this book, The Prayer of Jabez phenomenon, feels a bit dated but the prosperity gospel is sadly alive and well; a perennial temptation it seems.   And the issue of faith in an age of prosperity (and yes, even in our troubled economic times Westerners live in an era of prosperity) is as challenging as ever. So don’t let the hook fool you, this is about much more than a Christian publishing fad.  It is about timeless issues, how do we approach our relationship with God and how does that affect our daily lives.  Mulholand explores these issues through the lens of The Lord’s Prayer.  It is a challenging and thought-provoking read.

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Oct 21 2011

Niche blogging this ain’t

Statistical meaning of The Long Tail

Image via Wikipedia

Excuse the colloquial and inartful title, but it seems to capture my perspective on this subject.

And what exactly is the subject here? Well, my inability to stick to any particular genre or subject or age group, etc.  It seems to me that basic strategy when it comes to building an audience online is know your audience and give them what they want. Pick what you know, or want to know, and cover it well.  Unfortunately for me, I seem unable to do either. Heck, I can’t even settle on a theme or design for this blog for very long.

(I take that back. My audience is Google and I give them what they want by leaving these review for them to find in their searches. My strategy is bet the house on the long tail …)

But the more specific point I wish to make is that if any one is reading this blog on a regular basis – as opposed to surfing in from search engines (when you have a book report due or when you are looking for reviews in preparation for writing your own, trying to decide whether to read said book, or look for reactions to a book you just read) – then I want to warn you about the book reviews headed your way in the days and weeks to come.

You might already have noted that there has been a higher ratio of non-fiction of late and with a spiritual or theological flavor. This will continue. I am not really sure why but I have gotten onto a theological kick of late and so have been reading books in that realm. I have both more time on my hands and less information to process these days so non-fiction is something I am able to read more of. Right now it’s theology and spirituality but there is sure to be history, culture and politics thrown in as well.

And since I review fiction faster than I do non, I end up with a large backlog of non-fiction books to post on. I tend to post these then as I am able and am in the mood. So in reducing this backlog, I will be foisting more reviews that touch on theology and Christianity.

But as soon as those who enjoy such reviews get comfortable, I am sure I will switch back to reading young adult fantasy or literary fiction or some other genre or focus. But to be fair, the title of the blog is Collected Miscellany. Eclecticism and unpredictability is the name of the game around here.

Hence the title of this post …

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Oct 20 2011

Revelation for Everyone by N.T. Wright

As I mentioned in my review of Mercury Falls, I have been reading the final volume in N.T. Wright’s New Testament for Everyone series, Revelation for Everyone.  Here is a a description of this series:

N. T. Wright has undertaken a tremendous task: to provide guides to all the books of the New Testament, and to include in them his own translation of the entire text. Each short passage is followed by a highly readable discussion, with background information, useful explanations and suggestions, and thoughts as to how the text can be relevant to our lives today. A glossary is included at the back of the book. The series is suitable for group study, personal study, or daily devotions.

I had previously read the volumes on Romans for a Bible study we did at church and found it very useful. For a variety of reasons, I recently developed an interest in the Book of Revelation and, as luck would have it, this volume was being released this month.  And through the fine folks at NetGalley I was even able to get an ARC for my Kindle. I tried to read at least a chapter a day and so get through it relatively quickly.

It was an enjoyable and insightful look at this most complex and potentially confusing of books in the Bible.

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Oct 19 2011

The Orthodox Heretic by Peter Rollins

Like so many conservatives, I was initially very hostile to post-modern thinking and its impact on everything from the study of history, contemporary culture and faith to politics and the arts. But as I have read more and come to understand the wide implications of some (and I stress some) of its insights, I have developed a more nuanced view.

And I think reading and interacting with different points of view is important.  And one of the authors who has stretched my views and offered a different perspective is Peter Rollins.  His book How (Not) To Speak of God was an interesting and though provoking work that was probably dismissed by too many because of its style and perspective.

Rollins has a new book out (Insurrection: To Believe Is Human To Doubt, Divine) which prompted me to read an older book The Orthodox Heretic: And Other Impossible Tales.  Here is the publisher’s blurb:

‘This book should be banned! It’s DANGEROUS!’

So might any Christian say for whom faith functions like a comfortable chair and a lot of good will. If you are comfy and satisfied, then what you have might not be faith after all, explains Peter Rollins.

Christian faith only has meaning if it affects the ways that people live their lives. For many who are not Christians, critiquing Christianity from the outside, this sort of ‘faith’ appears all-too common and is an easy target. Perhaps Christians are simply those possessed of an ideology that keeps them passive, childlike, and ineffectual, they seem to think.
Rollins has crafted a series of parables that shatter these realities and popular perceptions. Parables that demonstrate how genuine faith is radical—and has never been concerned with escaping the world we inhabit, but rather, with engaging in it more fully. That genuine Christian faith has never capitulated to injustice but rather fought against it at every turn. In opposition to those who would claim that Christian faith embraces God at the expense of the suffering world, Peter shows how the true believer embraces God only inasmuch as he fully embraces a needy world.

Let me repeat a cliché I use often here: your reaction to this book will depend a great deal on what you bring to it (in terms of attitude, your spiritual and philosophical perspective, etc.). I come from a very different background and worldview than Rollins but I find it worthwhile to read him nonetheless. Others mileage may vary.

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