William P. Young, The Shack

I've been very slow posting since we just finished moving and have been getting settled, but I'm finally trying to catch up on some books I've finished recently. The first is The Shack. This book has become quite well known, and I dare say notorious, over the past weeks, and there's been a lot of discussion on the Web about it: it's theological underpinnings, it's quality as literature, etc. Because it has been so much talked about, I won't either summarize the plot or give a detailed theological critique. Both of those things have been undertaken elsewhere. What I will do, though, is give a brief appreciation of this great little book.

I think Young has written a powerful and imaginative tale dealing with important questions many Christians wrestle with, especially concerning justice and suffering. I love his imaginative portrayal of the Trinity as Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu. Though I think what has been said elsewhere does ring true: this isn't a systematic theology text, it is fiction, so it shouldn't be expected to fully and completely flesh out the doctrine of the Trinity. But I think it does illumine one great element of it: the tri-personal nature of God and the beauty of the interrelation between the persons. God's unity may get a little neglect in this portrayal, but I think that is okay, especially because modern Christians seem to have no problem with the oneness of God, but often neglect the Trinitarian tri-personality. That said, I also think the main thrust of the book is spectacular in it's power to confront the reader with the deep questions of suffering, tragedy, and trust. I know for me, it was especially convicting to be reminded that it was only in believing that God is really good that I could really trust him. The insight seems so simple, but its presentation made it profound.

In all, I do highly recommend this little book. It's certainly not perfect, but I am convinced that it can be a powerful story of God's love and grace. And, hopefully it will insight curiosity and interest in the deeper theological issues it touches on.

Ken Follett, The Pillars of the Earth

I had this book recommended to me a number of years ago. After fruitless years of searching for a cheap used copy in a thrift or second hand store, I finally broke down and bought it (I know, I know, libraries are good too . . .). And I'm glad I did. In this huge historical masterpiece, Follett unfolds a masterful tail of life in the village of Kingsbridge, England over a forty-year period as it emerges from relative obscurity to become a cathedral city.

The book begins with a mysterious hanging of a French jongleur (storyteller), a mystery that will weave throughout the rest of the story. We are first introduced to Tom, a stonemason and builder who is a bit down on his luck after a job falls through. He has church building in his blood, but isn't able to find work. His wife dies in child birth, and he takes up with a woman from the wild, Ellen, and her son, Jack. We meet Philip, a young monk, who then is surprisingly elected prior of the Kingsbridge monastary. These two characters, along with a third, Aliena, the daughter of the Earl of Shiring, make up the backbone of the story, as we follow their exploits and as their roads converge and diverge around the building of a cathedral for Kingsbridge.

The story is much too expansive to condense in a coherent way, but it is none the worse for it. The stories of domestic life and struggle, the local power plays between prior and bishop and earl, and the national and international politics of both church and country set the stage for the action. A two-decade civil war in England over the rightful successor to the throne provides the international tension that makes for shifting allegiances of the local earls and bishops, causing repeated upheavals in the local power struggles. Through it all, prior Philip seeks what's best for Kingsbridge and continues to build his cathedral.

Tom is succeeded by his son Alfred as builder of the cathedral, but his bungaling causes a small collapse and work stops, until Jack, son of the forrest-woman Ellen and step-son of Tom Builder, is appointed the new master builder. He reinvigorates the work with a new design based on the newest technologies from France, and a beautiful and light-filled cathedral takes shape. And amongst the stones and pillars, character flourish and fail, love is lost and won, and great things are learned.

The texture of the world Follett creates continually draws the reader into this past reality, and the depth of the characters keeps the plot moving forward. I highly recommend this amazing historical tale.

Reformed and Always Reforming, Roger Olson

Reformed and Always Reforming: The Postconservative Approach to Evangelical Theology is a descriptive and prescriptive account of the move of some evangelical theologians to what has come to be termed a "postconservative" style of doing theology. Olson finds himself among this growing group, and seeks to set out the methodology that underlays this shift. Thought that may in fact sound a bit dry, Olson in fact turns in a compelling story of the development of a new brand of evangelical theology.

He begins by identifying just what this "postconservative" theology is by first describing "conservative" theology. He lists ten characteristics:

1. Correct doctrine as the essence of Christianity.
2. Revelation is primarily seen as propositional.
3. There is the tendency to elevate some tradition to the level of magisterium.
4. Suspicion of the constructive task of theology.
5. Evangelicalism is a bounded set: people are either in or out.
6. Many who call themselves evangelicals wouldn't be considered evengelical by conservatives.
7. High levels of suspicion toward modernity and postmodernity in favor of the ancient or traditional.
8. Tend to think that it is possible to do theology relatively uninfluenced by culture or history.
9. Tendency toward harsh, polemical rhetoric, staying close to fundamentalist roots.
10. Tends to be done "in the grip of fear of liberal theology" (25).

After setting the stage with a sketch of "conservative" evangelical theology, he moves briefly through a discussion of shared ground, before then beginning to explicate the "style" of theology that he terms postconservative. It is in fact the task of the rest of the book to lay this out, but some major trends and themes can be listed as distinctive (in essence, they are the flip sides of the ten things he has pointed out about conservative evangelical theology listed above). Some of the important aspects might be layed out as follows (the choice and numbering are my own:

1. Consider relveation's purpose to be transformational more than informational.
2. The constructive task of theology is cointinuing; there are no "closed, once for all systems" of theology that have perfectly enshrined the truth about God (55).
3. Concern about the deep roots of conservative evangelical theology in modernity and the desire to move beyond foundationalism.
4. See evangelical theology as a "centered set" rather than a "bounded set"; that is, less focus on who is in and who is out and instead focusing on who is closer to the center and who is moving away from that center. This includes some comfort with ambiguity that is often lacking in conservative evangelical theology.
5. Recognize that the core of evangelical faith is spiritual experience rather than doctrinal belief. This doesn't mean it doesn't have informaitonal content (it's not merely generic belief itself or belief in some anomalous "ground of being") but that this language is "second order," the communal expression of the experience of God in revelation.
6. While tradition is greatly respected, it is not enshrined as definitive; this means systems and theologians of the past can be helpful and essential conversation partners but the assumption should never be made that they have provided final formulations equal to the status of scripture or fully authoritative as interpreters of the Scriptures.

Throughout the remainder of the book, Olson fleshes out these elements of the postconservative style of theology, looking often at important postconservative thinkers who embody these trends. This includes frequent discussion of Stanley Grenz, John Franke, F. LeRon Shults, and Kevin Vanhoozer as especially lucid expositors of this style of theology. He also undertakes detailed discussions of some proponents of the conservative style, such as D. A. Carson, and Carl Henry, with frequent references to Charles Hodge.

For myself, I have found Olson's vision to be a compelling one, in that he illumines many of the weaknesses that I myself have found with traditional "conservative" evangelical theology, such as it's seeming obsession with who is in and out, and it's often harsh polemic tone in discussions within and outside the evangelical family, and with its sole focus on proposition in revelation. As Olson points out, even taking these points, one is still "conservative" in the larger scheme of theology; they don't make one a "liberal," in any meaningful way (contrary to what many "conservative evangelical" theologians might claim). I think this great book shows the promise of evangelical theology as a vibrant and faithful exponent of the faith into a new century. It makes a great intro to these important themes and to the theologians who are on the cutting edge of evangelical thinking about God.

I Want to Believe, Mel Lawrenz

Mel Lawrenz is pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin (thanks to Elmbrook Church and Pastor Lawrenz for the review copy; HT: Scot McKnight for spreading word of the offer). In I Want to Believe, Lawrenz sets out to offer a guide for belief in God in our pluralistic and agnostic age. This involves some basic and careful apologetics, some study of comparative religions, and some great pastoral reflections on the nature and content of the Christian faith.

The basic premise that Lawrenz starts with is that we all have a need for God. For Lawrenz, we are "born believers. It's just simply how we're made" (8). God created us for relationship with him, and it shows in how we're made and how we experience the world. As humans, we feel mortal (and why shouldn't we, Lawrenz points out, because we are), and we look for structure and meaning in life. This doesn't mean belief is easy, but in some way it is "natural" (my word, not his). He writes, "Believeing in God is not like a scientist trapping an animal in a cage to bring back to the laboratory for further study and tests. . . . God caries us away" (17). Later, he illumines the fact that belief goes beyond understanding, and that's okay. Because belif is where "the Made and the Eternal" are conjoined, and if we come to a point where we fully understood it, then belief would be about us and what we do. But it's not; it's about God.

Throughout the rest of the book, Lawrenz does a very fine, pastoral job of working out what it means to believe, as humans, as citizens of a pluralistic world, and finally, as followers of Jesus Christ. This involves discussions of doubt (a chapter worth the price of the book), atheism, Islam, and the specifics of the Christian faith, to name a few of the topics he brings in.

Lawrenz book might be termed apologetics-lite, in a sense, but that is meant in the best possible way. He doesn't get bogged down in philosophy or argumentation but instead helpfully touches on many of these themes but moves beyond them to God and what it means to be in relationship with him. I think this great little book makes a user-friendly introduction to belief in the modern world, and I wouldn't hesitate to hand it to someone searching for faith, or even decidedly not searching for it.

The Nature of the Atonement, Bielby and Eddy

I'm finally getting around to the pile of books I've finished but not commented on over the last few months. In The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views, four scholars are asked to put forth a comprehensive understanding of what they consider to be the foundational metaphor or central thrust of the New Testament's teaching on atonement. They are then asked to interact with each of the other three author's views, facilitating a dialog between the different views and accentuating both commonalities and disagreements. The four scholars and views are as follows:

Gregory Boyd, Christus Victor
Joel B. Green, Kaleidoscopic
Bruce Reichenbach, Healing
Thomsa Schreiner, Penal Substutition

Because of the nature of the book, that is, that each scholar is already abridging an in-depth discussion in their short essays and that each scholar interacts with the others, I will simply restrict my review to some brief comments of evaluation and commendation.

In most evangelical circles, it would seem that the penal substitution view holds sway as the dominant (and sometimes almost the only) view. And Thomas Schreiner does an admirable job of displaying the deep scriptural roots and theological reasoning that make this such an important view. Greg Boyd, in what was maybe for me one of the strongest pieces, displayed the deep scriptural roots of the Christus victor model, showing the importance of victory of death and evil for biblical thinking about sin and salvation. Bruce Reichenbach ably deploys arguments for the healing aspects of atonement, emphasizing forgiveness and reconciliation as part of this understanding. Joel Green's essay was also very strong, emphasizing that the context of Jesus' death and the purposes of God are two essential aspects of thinking about the atonement. This leads him to assert that no one metaphor or model will fully illumine the significance of Christ's death, nor will any one model necessarily be the best way to speak the truth of Christ's death into our cultural setting today.

Each author does their view justice, in showing the deep logic that underpins it and the way the atonement fits within a larger Scriptural and theological framework. Each author also sets out to show how their view sets the foundation for or interacts with other views and metaphors, which make up subsidiary ways of speaking about Christ's death. For this reason, I think this book makes a great entry point into this lively and important dialog about the work of Christ and the nature of the atonement. It deals deliberately with the text of the New Testament and also, in less depth, with the historical interpretations and understandings of Christ and his death.

Elie Wiesel, Night

I have just finished rereading this powerful and haunting narrative of Elie Wiesel's experience as a Jew experiencing the Holocaust and the famed Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. I first encountered this little book in a seminary class on God, Evil, and Suffering, and it was a fitting way to begin that class. For in it, Wiesel thoughtfully reflects on the dept of the depravity he witnessed in years of German maltreatment.

He begins the story with the the waiting and questioning of 1943. His thoughts and that of his community were both on Hitler's progress and prospects, and also on God's existence and benevolence. The year 1944 brought all these things to a head, as the Jews were first placed in a Ghetto and then moved out to concentration camps, both surreal experiences of coming to realize the extremity of their situation. Some hope of humanity remained, either as only wishful thinking or as common-sense expectation that things couldn't be as bad as some thought, but with the arrival at a German concentration camp, with separation by men and women and then by age and ability, with some going to work and others going to the crematories, reality, unexpected and unimaginable as it may have been, began to set in. The horrors daily experienced by Wiesel and his fellow prisoners are still hard to imagine, but that is why they are so important to read.

One episode at Auschwitz stands out as a climax of inhumanity: the hanging of a young boy who had been an assistant to an Oberkampo, a prisoner who was in charge of other prisoners. The boy refused to speak about allegations against his Oberkampo, so the Germans sentenced him to death. Wiesel recounts the lilence throughout the camp as the hild was hung. "Where is God? Where is He?" The question rung out behind Wiesel as he watched the events. Then, as the prisoners were all forced to march by the hanging prisoners, including the yong boy who was still hanging alive in the last momets of life (too light to have his neck break immediately upon hanging). "where is God now?" the question again is asked. It is impossible for questions like that to ring in our minds. Wiesel continues his reflection on these horrors, and upon God. This turned him to anger: "What does Your greatness mean, Lord of the Universe, in the face of all this weakness, this decomposition, and this decay?" (73-74). God becomes the accused, but along with this comes a great void. It is that void that rings throughout the whole work.

While not easy to read, this Holocaust memoir is essential reading. It is important that we remember. We must acknowledge the depths to which our inhumanity can go. We live in a world of suffering and death, and to picture it with rose colored glasses doesn't make it go away. Instead, acknowledging and living in the suffering of others gives us a chance to begin walking along side them. It's also a reminder that easy answers won't suffice. That isn't to say that the void Wiesel speaks of and evidences are the true state of affairs in our world, but that they are important experiences into which God's truth must be spoken.

Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundadmentalist

The Reluctant Fundadmentalist is a short novel about a Pakistani's experience in America around the time of the 9/11 attacks. It begins in a market in Lahore, Pakistan, where the main character, Changez, a native Pakistani, helps an American find a table and enjoy some of the delicacies of Pakistan. The novel chronicles their long conversation, as Changez talks of his experiences in going to America to study at Princeton, his success there and his sought-after job at Underwood Sampson, a valuation company. Changez finds himself a top prospect at this elite American company, traveling all over the world in its financial endeavors. He also courts an American girl, Erica. But September 11 happens, and he finds his world start to change. From his own initial reaction of delight at the symbolism of America and the West being brought to its knees to his own impressions of the world as it changes around him. He becomes a living contradiction, both part of the American financial system and also resentful of it. At the same time, his relationship with Erica takes some unsucessful turns, as he discovers she is caught up in lost love for her high-school boyfriend, who died tragically. And there relationship goes nowhere, as Erica becomes increasingly distant and overtaken by mental instability. Finally, the contradictions overtake him, and he can't stand to be part of the system he finds so horrible, supporting the country he finds to be such a meddler in the affairs of the world. So he leaves his job in the middle of a project and heads back to Pakistan. The book closes as he finishes his evening drinks with the American, and then proceeds to lead him into a trap, where he will be captured, or worse.

Hamid's novel is clearly at least somewhat autobiographical, as he himself is from Lahore, and spent time studying in America. It shows penetrating observation into the culture of America, with some interesting analysis of how it shifted with September 11. This little novel proved to be a very interesting read, and is a helpful window from the outside, in a sense, on American culture.

Lou Cannon, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime

Ronald Reagan is well known as the "Great Communicator." And there has never been any doubt that he could deliver a great speech. From his rise to national prominence with a speech for Barry Goldwater in 1968 to his debate performances against George Bush and later Jimmy Carter to his oval office speeches and Presidential addresses abroad, Reagan had a clear stage presence. And he appreciated the "role" and pageantry of the office of the President. Lou Cannon, in President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, helps to illumine this side of Reagan, the performer, while filling out the portrait of the man himself.

Cannon shows that Reagan saw the presidency as a series of performances, with his staff and cabinet as his supporting cast, directors and producers. He focused on executing the duties through these performances. And there can be no doubt that this was a strength for him and a boon for his presidency. He was able to communicate great visions and ideas to the American people, and to project America's greatness abroad. But Canon makes clear that Reagan wasn't just an empty performer; he was a man with vision. He harbored an ideal of how America should be, and sought to communicate that ideal and live out the narrative of that vision in his presidency.
But, in this detailed look into Reagan's life in office, Canon notes that this vision also served as a problem for Reagan, as he often had trouble seeing realities that didn't comport with his take on how things were.

In narrating the tale of Reagan's presidency and evaluating its success, Cannon points to a mixed legacy. In all, his first term was quite successful, powered by strong leadership from James Baker as chief of staff, while his second term was much less so, with much turn-over in his supporting cast and much less coherence and leadership from the people around him, and especially with the Iran-Contra debacle casting a shadow over the later years. Interestingly, Reagan's overall accomplishments were more in foreign policy than in domestic politics, though the latter was more Reagan's personal focus. His relationship with Gorbechev especially helped lead to many sucesses.

Cannon is a long-time Reagan watcher, covering him from his rise to prominence in California through his time in the White House, and his conclusions prove very telling, summing up well the tale he has told. He writes, "Reagan may not have been a great president, but he was a great American who held a compelling vision of his country." This detailed biography helps bring to life the inside story of the Reagan White House. I learned a great deal about events and people that I only faintly knew or remembered, and I'm confident that remembering the legacy left by leaders of the past can help shape our understanding of what is required for leadership in the future. Clearly Reagan is a man to be studied, with strengths to be learned from and many weaknesses to be avoided.