Preaching that Moves People - Book Review

Every now and then you read a book and find yourself saying over and over again “This is very helpful stuff right here!” I just finished a book that had this effect on me. Yancey Arrington, Teaching Pastor at Clear Creek Community Church in League City Texas, has given pastors a helpful tool his book Preaching that Moves People.

I’ve read quite a few volumes on the art and craft of preaching the Bible. In fact, it is quite a growing little section on my bookshelves. Many of them have a similar quality. They put forth a philosophy and methodology related to preaching and help you to accomplish the task in that way. In the tribes that take the Scriptures seriously, many of the works are focused on teaching truthful things in order to let the Bible speak.  There are also works that focus primarily on communication and public speaking. Both of these bring immense value to a preacher’s toolbelt. 

Preaching that Moves People takes a surprisingly different approach. Rather than focus on mere exegesis or communication techniques, Arrington’s book aims to bring focus to the oral event of preaching itself. Quite literally, it is a book about helping preaching to be less boring and more moving. If you want to connect with and hold the attention of an audience, this book has some very helpful tools for you.

Summary 

The book has a simple structure using a simple memory device. It is as simple as remembering ABC. After some preliminary disclosures of his view of the Bible, of Jesus Christ, and his theological vision, Arrington structures the book with three primary sections:

• Arrange for Tension

• Build for Speed

• Chart for bandwidth

Each of these sections of the book focuses on a different need within Arrington‘s preaching philosophy. In talking about arranging for tension, he leans upon the art of storytelling and building narratives. Many preachers will state the main idea of their sermon right at the beginning. Others will continue to tell you the exact structure of the sermon and the direction they are about to proceed. This structure, where you sort of tell everyone everything upfront, ruins any tension and drama in the movements of the sermon. Arrington’s claim is that the preacher needs to arrange his material in order to build tension as he moves toward the main idea of the sermon. He should not give away the store at the beginning! His introduction should create interest and tension as he leads into the body and main idea of the sermon.

The second section sets out a “Goldilocks zone” in terms of the pace that the sermon proceeds. Some preachers go too fast; some preachers go too slow. To talk about speed/pace in a sermon, Arrington  introduces the concept of “getting down the mountain.” This is a metaphor he borrows from the world of alpine skiing. I must confess I have only been skiing once and it wasn’t the most pleasant experience. I did great on the novice and intermediate slopes but accidentally ended up on a black diamond and then ended up on my behind. Even so, I found this metaphor easy to understand and a helpful concept throughout the rest of the book. 

Illustration from, Yancey Airington, Preaching that Moves People, 2018.

Preachers need to view their task as standing at the top of a ski slope about to take the journey of the sermon. There is a destination that the main idea of the the text should lead us to at the bottom, but there are many possible routes we could take to get there. Someone going “too fast” just bluntly shares a thought from the Bible without much investigation, depth, or rigor. It is sort of a straight line right down the mountain. 

Illustration from, Yancey Airington, Preaching that Moves People, 2018.

Others, who go “too slow”, meander back and forth through many turns in a ponderous journey down the mountain. Many swing so far wide of the main idea of the biblical text being preached, and thereby wreck the sermon out of bounds and land in the trees. The preacher wants to land in a “just right” zone that balances pace with appropriate detail. The preacher wants to bring something of substance without getting lost in the woods of having too much content or too many ideas. 

Illustration from, Yancey Airington, Preaching that Moves People, 2018.

Finally, and perhaps the most unique and surprising section of this book, was “C”, Chart for Bandwidth. Now I have an undergraduate degree in applied computer science and physics, so the word bandwidth provokes all sorts of images in my mind. What I found here was not some mathematically technical concepts, but rather a look at the emotional range found in a sermon. This section literally calls a preacher to look at where human emotions might travel while engaging with his sermon. Obviously human emotions have quite a range. There are high highs and low lows. Preaching that moves people will often travel in both. Arrington provides a very helpful tool in this book by providing a graph where a preacher can actually draw a chart of the emotional range his sermon. I told you, very helpful stuff!

The book concludes with a brief section on the individual preacher finding his own voice over time. This includes parts that encourage preachers to listen to others practitioners but not to idolize them. Far too often we see a sort of mimicry in preaching. Young pastors can attempt to become facsimiles of their favorite preachers they have on podcast which usually doesn’t turn out well. This section also shared different categories of preachers such as the professor, the author, the life coach, and the prophet. Arrington even describes these categories using the language of emotional bandwidth as well as providing some contemporary examples.

Strengths

Preaching that Moves People has many strengths so I will travel quickly here with them. First, the book was very easy to read. I found it to be clear, the concepts and illustrations illuminating, and the pacing of the work excellent. I read it in an afternoon with an eye to detail and was greatly helped. Second, the tone of the book, from beginning to end, is personal, pastoral, and coachy. It is the tone I love to hear when someone is teaching me something. 

Finally, the illustrations and graphs are tremendous in this volume. The little graphics related to “getting down the mountain” and “charting bandwidth” each helped to cement the concepts in my mind. I also appreciate that Arrington took time at the beginning of the book to share with the reader where he is coming from theologically and biblically. This serves to not set off alarm bells for those who might be fearful of an excessive pragmatism. For the person who already has good skills in biblical exegesis and theological rigor, this is precisely the type of book needed. Dr. Arrington did a great job comforting those souls at the beginning of the book so that they would continue on to participate in his skiing class. 

Weaknesses

To be quite frank, I found few weaknesses with this volume. It is simply fit for purpose and I will be recommending it often. If I could offer some improvement it would be along these lines. First, the book could expand the range of examples and paradigms outside of a middle-class suburban world. When describing members of a congregation and the jobs they performed, the book could be more inclusive for those who might be ministering in different contexts. Second, the examples given to describe four types/categories of preachers at the end of the book included eight white preachers as emblematic of the types. It might be more inviting to see additional examples from other traditions and backgrounds included there. Third, this volume obviously flows out from Arrington’s context where keeping the attention of regular church folk is paramount. However, It would be nice to see more about connecting and communicating to post Christendom contexts and non-Christians while faithfully preaching the Scripture. Finally, there still is not a Kindle version of this book out and I really want to buy one! So let’s hope the publisher gets that accomplished here soon.

These, however, are minor issues that I think would improve the work, but do not significantly distract from the book’s main purpose and message.

Conclusion 

When this book first came out I scanned its contents and outline so I would understand the basic structure and flow. I did this because I saw it being recommended to church planters we were assessing in the Acts 29 Network. It took me a while to get around to a detailed reading of the book and I just want to say that it took me too long. Almost every preacher I know would be helped by Preaching that Moves People and I gladly recommend it to any who engage in the art and craft of biblical preaching. 

Best Reads from 2019

Now that all the lists have come and gone, I figured I would share with our friends some of the most enjoyable books I engaged with in 2019. I thought about keeping it to a “top 10” list and then it got too long. So here is my “top 10ish” books from 2019 with a few others linked in.

Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice by David Teems. If you are new to the historical person of William Tyndale this is a great place to start for both believers and non. Teems comes to Tyndale through his English translation of the Bible and its import to the English language. Teems argues that Tyndale’s work belongs next to Shakespeare in shaping the English tongues but is not often acknowledged as such. Teems makes this argument through a helpful biographical sketch that amplifies Tyndale’s own faith without being obnoxious.

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The Accursed Tower: The Fall of Acre and the End of the Crusades by Roger Crowley. I am a huge fan of Roger Crowley’s works in creative non-fiction. Crowley’s interests scan the middle ages and center around various engagements with the West and the World of Islam. This book highlights the final battle for the port of Acre in the Levant. Acre was a city that was taken and retaken several times throughout the crusading era. This book focus on the final fall of this stronghold to the rising Islamic power lead by the Seljuk Turks. I recommend all of Crowley’s published works. Start with “Empires of the Sea” for an introduction or head directly to the accursed tower of Acre.

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Woke Church: An Urgent Call for Christians in America to Confront Racism and Injusticeh by Eric Mason. I thought this was a 2018 read for me, but I finished it in January 2019 so it counts for the year. Woke Church is a great book that explains how gospel centrality and a stand for biblical justice go hand and hand. One of my favorite quotes from the work brings a needed clarity for the American church:

You have to be intrinsically changed by God in order for justice to be done. In other words, justice doesn’t come by legislation, because you can legislate things and nothing changes. We can go to the executive branch. We can go to the legislative branch. We can go to the judicial branch. We can put whatever kind of Supreme Court justices we want to put in place. But at the end of the day legislation doesn’t change hearts … only the gospel does. 

Eric Mason, Woke Church, 50.

We discussed this book on Episode 39 of the Gospel Underground Podcast. Woke, Too Woke, or Broke? Too often we lack balance in discussions of justice with one’s political bent taking over immediately. We need not be blindly dismissive or excessively political correct in discussing justice. Mason’s book is helpful to Christians throughout a political spectrum.

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Vices of the Mind: From the Intellectual to the Political by Quassim Cassam. This work focuses on thinking and the habits of forming beliefs and knowledge. Just are there are intellectual virtues like honesty, integrity, open mindedness, Cassam also argues there are ways of thinking that are vicious. Cassam argues that there are certain ways of thinking that are actually blameworthy. He mentions many such as pride, gullibility, self-satisfaction, excessive dogmatism, and willful stupidity among the vices of the mind. Though some may find his political examples off-putting, Cassam makes a strong case that we ought to be virtuous in our thinking. Now if virtue and vice, good and evil, are “real” this project survives. This project unravels completely when paired with any sort of moral or epistemic relativism.

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The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile. Ok, quick confession. I read this book so I could keep talking to certain friends who were taken in by the Pentagram. Uh, I mean, the Enneagram. Just kidding. I really enjoyed this book and its introduction to what I understand to be tool for gaining self knowledge, conversations, and emotional health. I understand the issues that some have with it and also get why others find it so helpful. For me I found the Enneagram to be a tool that was good for conversations and for engaging how I interact with other people. I don’t ascribe to it any mysticism, omniscience, or divine inspiration. Oh, and I know this is obligatory so I am a 2 with a 3 wing and sometimes showed as a 3 with a 2 wing. Either way, I am loyal, deeply committed, and like to lead. This, of course, is only until things get super stressful.

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The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes by Don Hoffman. This book will probably come off a bit odd to most readers. Hoffman is a cognitive psychologist at the University of California, Irvine. He works across the disciplines of Cognitive psychology, Logic and Philosophy of Science, and Computer Science. Hoffman argues that our failure to understand human consciousness, or consciousness broadly, has resulted from our materialistic assumptions. From oddities in quantum mechanics and human experience Hoffman is working on the hypothesis that mind does not emerge from matter but rather, space-time, is the operating system of a universal consciousnesses. Evolution has developed our operating system to make us think the abstraction of space-time is the real world whereas the truth is that all emerges from a broad consciousness. Is he taking a scientific route towards pantheism? Is Hoffman’s conscious realism, or further ideas such as simulationism, worth of my consideration as Christian theist? Here is his Ted Talk, Do we see reality as it is? for a quick view of his ideas.

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The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West by David McCullough. David McCullough is a beloved writer of American History whose works have been well traveled for decades. His most recent book travels with American settlers as they headed west after the founding of our republic. The title might make one think this is about heading all the way to the west coast but the scope of the work is more narrow. In fact, “West” should be understood as the Ohio territories and the move of settlers in the final decades of the 18th century. Those who want European settlement to be villainized will be disappointed here. McCullough’s telling has the settlers precarious situation and survival in a more heroic light. Furthermore, if your view of Native Americans is pristine as a people only victimized, there are some disturbing stories here as well. I have enjoyed most books by McCullough, particularly those on the Brooklyn Bridge, Panama Canal and the Wright Brothers. Though I did enjoy this work enough to pick up another volume on the Whiskey Rebellion, it was not my favorite David McCullough book thus far.

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Leading - Learning form Life and My Years at Manchester United by Alex Ferguson and Michael Moritz. This is a book about the life and leadership style of former Manchester United football club manager Alex Ferguson. For any fan of the premier league or world football this book is a delight. Though there is more here than fluff for the rabid football fan. The book also goes into the leadership principles that guided what many argue is the greatest football manager in history. If you want to get something from Sir Alex, I recommend you pick this up. Also, the audio book version has a proper reader with a Scottish accent. Delightful. I also read a great history of the Premier League this year entitled, The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports. Very very fun read.

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In the Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown by Nathaniel Philbrick. Philbrick is in the midst of a run of books about the American Revolution. I read his previous works Bunker Hill and Valiant Ambition in the last couple of years. This book, like the two previous, was a wonderfully detailed account giving a window in a smaller slice of a well told history. This particular book focuses on the final days of the war and the risks, guess work, British blunders, and statesmanship necessary for the victory in the last great battle of the American Revolution. Philbrick is a masterful story-teller as well as a communicator of history. These gifts come together into a fascinating look at the decision making of Washington and others that led to the birth of a nation.

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Christ and Culture Revisited by DA Carson. I’ll just post the conclusion from my full review of this book as my summary:

In the past, I have been thankful for the articles, lectures and books I have read by Dr. Carson. His intellectual rigor along with a devoted biblical commitment to Christ has continued to be a refreshing guide to my own life and faith. I think his evaluation of such an influential work like Christ and Culture is both needed and helpful for our time. His judgment that the five fold typology [of Niehbur] now seems a bit parochial, (Carson 200) I found helpful and his own path forward to be inspiring. In what seemed like a false ending, before a final post script of the book, Carson quotes CS Lewis at length to offer wisdom to our age. I found that quotation to be quite helpful,and will close my review with it as well:

What is the good of telling the ships how to steer so as to avoid collisions if, in fact, they are such crazy old tubs that they cannot be steered at all? What is the good of drawing up, on paper, rules for social behaviour, if we know that, in fact, our greed, cowardice, ill temper, and self-conceit are going to prevent us from keeping them? I do not mean for a moment that we ought not to think, and think hard, about improvements in our social and economic systems. What I do mean is that all that thinking will be mere moonshine unless we realise that nothing but the courage and unselfishness of individuals is ever going to make any system work properly. It is easy enough to remove the particular kinds of graft or bullying that go on under the present system: but as long as men are twisters or bullies they will find some new way of carrying on the old game under the new system. You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society.(Quoted in Carson, 225.Mere Christianity (1952; San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), 73.)

In light of these realities,we must take the truth of the gospel to people in culture and engage the systems and powers that be with the appropriate posture led by the Spirit of God. In doing so, we might manifest the glorious kingdom of Christ right in the midst of our time and culture.To such ends we submit our lives to our sovereign King who is to be forever praised among the nations.

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The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben MacIntyre. Sometimes the truth is better than fiction and this is almost always the case in the works of Ben MacIntyre. He focuses on true stories of espionage from the 20th century. This is, perhaps, one of the most fascinating. MacIntyre tells the story of KGB agent Oleg Gordievsky and his recruitment as a cold war era spy. I will ruin nothing of this amazing work and just tell you to go an grab it. Exhilarating read! If you get hooked, grab his Spy Among Friends next for a story that tells the greatest defection in the other direction from West to East.

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Can Science Answer Everything? by John Lennox. This was my favorite Christian book of 2019 and also a favorite of my middle child. Lennox is a Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Oxford University and an active Christian Apologist. Lennox possesses a fine scientific mind that engages ideas with precision. At the same time, he writes (and speaks) like an old Irish uncle that loves to laugh and cares about his reader. He pulls no punches but makes sure you never feel as if he’s throwing a punch at you. The book begins with a treatments of atheistic philosophies claims to be “scientific” and argues how Christian faith actually makes more sense of reality and the scientific enterprise itself. For those who enjoyed Thaxton and Pearcey’s The Soul of Science will love this book. The book ends with a more testimonial and evangelistic tone, commending the gospel to the reader. As such it is a wonderful volume to give to non Christian friends. Our family has given away a few already.

I’m looking forward to another year of engaging reads where I might learn more about God, history, technology, and our interaction with these.

May the Lord meet you in a good book and engulf your mind in his glory in the year to come. Remember, in our reading, let us not lead our focus away from the Scriptures.

11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

- Ecclesiastes 12:11-12

Christ and Culture Revisted - A Review Within a Review

Carson, D.A. Christ and Culture Revisited. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012

Some Slides Reflective of this Review

I recently had the privilege of reading and interacting with DA Carson’s book Christ and Culture Revisited. Dr. Carson is Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he has served since 1978.  His primary academic work is with the New Testament, though he has written extensively on issues related to the church and her place in contemporary western culture. This particular book takes up a reflection on the relationship(s) between the church and culture in the early twenty-first century. 

Summary

I found this volume to be an interesting book because the launching point for its reflection is the seminal work, Christ and Culture by H. Richard Niebuhr originally published in 1951. In many ways, this review is a review of another review. One might say it’s a bit of book review version of Christopher Nolan’s dream within a dream film Inception.

Carson’s project is not to simply critique or applaud Niebuhr, but to “revisit” his thought and categories in order to help the church think through the gospel in the cultural setting some six decades later. The work is comprised of six chapters with a growing emphasis which flows out from the conceptual into some very practical concerns.

Chapter 1 begins with a contemporary discussion of what we mean by the word “culture” with Carson defining and defending the usefulness of the concept. He affirms several different definitions of culture while acknowledging what he calls the succinct and clear contribution of Clifford Geertz:

The culture concept…denotes the historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, as a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic form by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards life (2)

Considering this reflection and the sheer reality that the church exists in various times and places, there is a necessary presupposition that there is some sort of relationship between Christ and culture. From this acknowledgment, Carson launches into his “revisiting” of H. Richard Niebuhr’s work. The rest of Chapter 1 is spent in a succinct and helpful recounting of Niebuhr’s iconic categories for how the church relates and has related to its cultural settings: Christ against Culture, The Christ of Culture, Christ Above Culture, Christ and Culture in Paradox, and finally, Christ the Transformer of Culture. 

Chapter 2 begins Carson’s evaluation of Niebuhr’s work and he is clearly critical. After expressing some gratitude for the comprehensive nature of his categorization, he launches into a steady critique. First, he whittles down the categories from five to four by setting aside the Christ of Culture. Niebuhr’s examples of this category from history are early Gnostic Christianity and various flavors of theological liberalism in western society. Carson’s contention is that these flavors of ideology seem to have very little to do with Christ or Christian theology. He concludes: “If sober reflection commends the conclusion that neither is a Christian movement in any sense worthy of the adjective ‘Christian,’ then not much is left of this second category.” (36) His critique continues towards Niebuhr’s handling of the Bible and his relationship to canonical revelation. Carson contends that Niebuhr tends to chop the Bible into separate voices and paradigms (e.g. Matthean Christianity, the Johannine community, Pauline churches etc.) rather than a unified revelation with a holistic vision. Carson contends that we should look at the major themes and non-negotiables of Biblical Theology and apply them to our cultural situatedness. He spends much of rest of the chapter outlining these non-negotiables. This biblical-theological vision should serve as the basis for particular communities of Christians to evaluate and respond to their particular cultural setting and time. Carson prefers this dynamic model rather than the comprehensive categorizations given to us by Niebuhr. 

After moving on from Niebuhr, Carson begins his own Christ and Culture and it is a bit of a journey. Chapter 3 has the goal of giving us a more flexible view of culture without giving culture the dominating voice it has many times today. In doing so, Carson takes us through the perplexing halls of Postmodernism, emerging church thinking and some specific jousting with the work of James K.A. Smith. Carson seeks to justify the idea that the church is culturally embedded yet distinct enough to be in conversation with her surrounding cultural worlds. He offers Christianity as a different way of seeing and looking at one’s own culture when one sees things Christianly (86, 87). Carson also takes the time to justify and salvage our use of the term and concept of worldview from its detractors. Carson, in a sense, uses this chapter to argue that talking about “Christ and Culture” is a legitimate endeavor in a day when postmodernity seems to lose so much in the weeds of linguistic and epistemic uncertainty. The following is illustrative of Carson’s legitimization of this shorthand:

I cannot continually say that by “Christ and culture” I really mean “a Christian culture and its relation to its surrounding culture, understanding that every Christian culture is necessarily shaped by its surrounding culture even while it forms part of it, and even while it has strong ties to Christian cultures in other parts of the world by virtue of shared allegiance to the Bible and its storyline, to which all Christian cultures lay claim, which authoritative text has, for Christians, a norming authority that enables them in substantial measure to withstand the pull in the direction of other elements in the broader culture,” and so forth. We will usually take such caveats as the “givens”and speak, more economically, of Christ and culture, but do so in a way that these broader considerations are not ignored.(98) 

I found that to be quite humorous and myself grateful for his intellectual battle to redeem our use of the shorthand “Christ and Culture.” 

In Chapters 4 and 5 we find Carson’s application of his canonical application to thoughts about Christ and Culture as he approaches significant issues in contemporary western culture. In Chapter 4 he addresses secularism, democracy and power before taking up the massive issue of Church and State in Chapter 5. These chapters are illustrative of how one thinks through the issues of his own culture with robust categories from the biblical-theological narrative. 

Finally, Chapter 6 is used to summarize his argument and then look at various options for Christ and Culture interactions over the last century and paths taken by contemporary thinkers. In this analysis, Carson also includes how a church in a setting of persecution, outside of the power and confines of recent western civilization, might see and engage this whole “Christ and Culture” enterprise.

As expected from a scholar of D.A. Carson’s stature, the book was copiously researched and footnoted and a great addition to the other treatments on culturally engagement in my library. We now turn to revisit Carson’s re-visitation for some critical reflection upon the work. 

Critical Evaluation 

Strengths 

It is a difficult task to state only a few of my appreciations of this book as I found the strengths far outnumbering its weaknesses. This was a volume where I found much to delight in and commend to others. In order to be concise, I will limit myself to these three major strengths in the work: the book is Canonically Focused, Contextually Committed, and Constructively Hopeful. I will handle each of these in turn. 

Canonically Focused

Throughout this volume, Carson remains a scholar committed to canonical and confessional orthodoxy. As a Christian scholar, he insists that the major narrative movements of the Bible itself shape our cultural reflection and engagement. When exhorting Christians to evaluate their cultural setting and engage,Carson wants thoughts of creation, fall, redemption in Christ, a new covenant, and a coming kingdom of heaven, or of hell,to be directly in our view(44-58). The text of the Bible must be in the forefront of our thinking lest we veer off into cultural compromise or the abandonment of the mission.Carson maintains this focus even amidst of a deep and rigorous interaction with contemporary cultural ideologies.

Contextually Committed 

Another refreshing aspect of the book is Carson’s wide-eyed awareness of our current cultural setting. He neither bows to a naïve modernism that sees one’s own point of view as culturally privileged, nor to a pessimistic postmodernism that forfeits the birthright of revealed truth to the most recent of knowledge skeptics. Carson is careful to distinguish a robust cultural engagement from the overconfidence of the past as well as the trepidation of our present. Furthermore, he also exhorts God’s people to bring to bear biblical narrative and gospel truth to our own communities present. By drawing on gospel non-negotiables in the face of our current cultural idols, earthly powers, and communal situations, the church may contextualize both its witness and cultural interaction with thoughtful engagement and wisdom. With such a method of thoughtful engagement, we might avoid the reductionist categorization of Niebuhr and others (225,226). Such a strategy would call for the church to pray and to think about how to interact with the spirit of our age, the zeitgeist of this place and time. This forms a wonderful triangle of interaction between Christ,the covenant community and mission of God in the present world.

Constructively Hopeful

The final strength of Christ and Culture Revisited, I found in its overall tone. This is not a pessimistic work, despairing about the overwhelming onslaught of the secular world. It is realistic about the current challenges in western culture while not capitulating our most precious truths as the church. He maintains a voice that reflects faith and hope without a naïve triumphalism. Carson sees a path forward for the church in culture whether it is in power or under persecution. This is a hopeful path of trusting Christ within every culture as we continue to live as a distinct people within His story and mission. This path is one I hope to continue to follow in my own home, church, and city.          

Weaknesses 

Though I did not find many weaknesses in this book, there were a few things from Chapter 3 which detracted from the overall flow and argument of the work. In Dr. Carson‘s treatment of postmodernism, epistemology, and worldview, one starts to feel as if he is a bit of a  spectator in a larger, more involved, and nuanced battle. In order to engage well with Chapter 3, one really requires some prior reading in deconstructionist literary theory, philosophy, and perhaps some of Carson’s previous writings. As someone who has read some of his engagement with the “Emerging Church” movement, I felt at home in the discussion and was aware of his many interlocutors. If this was not the case, I would have been completely lost. One of my daughters was recently reading to me portions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion and I became overwhelmed with this feeling of cross-eyed confusion. My fear is that some readers may have that experience in some of the bowels of chapter 3. In a similar vein, the extensive jousting with James K.A.Smith and the radical orthodoxy crowd took on a similar feel.

Conclusion

In the past, I have been thankful for the articles, lectures and books I have read by Dr. Carson. His intellectual rigor along with a devoted biblical commitment to Christ has continued to be a refreshing guide to my own life and faith. I think his evaluation of such an influential work like Christ and Culture is both needed and helpful for our time.His judgment that the five fold typology now seems a bit parochial, (200) I found helpful and his own path forward to be inspiring. In what seemed like a false ending,before a final post script of the book, Carson quotes CS Lewis at length to offer wisdom to our age. I found that quotation to be quite helpful,and will close my review with it as well:

What is the good of telling the ships how to steer so as to avoid collisions if, in fact, they are such crazy old tubs that they cannot be steered at all? What is the good of drawing up, on paper, rules for social behaviour, if we know that, in fact, our greed, cowardice, ill temper, and self-conceit are going to prevent us from keeping them? I do not mean for a moment that we ought not to think, and think hard, about improvements in our social and economic systems. What I do mean is that all that thinking will be mere moonshine unless we realise that nothing but the courage and unselfishness of individuals is ever going to make any system work properly. It is easy enough to remove the particular kinds of graft or bullying that go on under the present system: but as long as men are twisters or bullies they will find some new way of carrying on the old game under the new system. You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society.(Quoted in Carson, 225.Mere Christianity (1952; San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), 73.)

In light of these realities,we must take the truth of the gospel to people in culture and engage the systems and powers that be with the appropriate posture led by the Spirit of God. In doing so, we might manifest the glorious kingdom of Christ right in the midst of our time and culture.To such ends we submit our lives to our sovereign King who is to be forever praised among the nations.

AI Super-Powers - A Review

Introduction  

Over the years I’ve developed a deep love for books about two things: human history and the history of human technologies.

I have enjoyed learning about people and their ideas from various epochs of the human story with a particular interest in technology and engineering. Whether  engineering feats like the Brooklyn bridge or the Panama Canal or the formation of high impact companies like Apple or Google, I have sought to learn about how human invention comes about.

Recently, the area of computational technology, consciousness studies, and artificial intelligence have piqued my interest. A recent book on this reading list has brought many thoughts to my own journey and some ruminations about what it means to be a human being.

That book, AI Super-Powers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World order by Kai-fu Lee, is the subject of this review.

The book is written by a gentleman who has straddled both American and Chinese contexts in his education, engineering, business, and entrepreneurial endeavors. Lee is one of the true giants of the artificial intelligence revolution with a career that spans Apple, Google, and Microsoft, as well as the leading intellectual worlds of research in both countries which he calls “AI super-powers.” His book covers the history of developments in artificial intelligence as well as the discussion of the two most influential nations in the technology’s present and near future. The beginning of the book focuses on what artificial intelligence is and is not, and then continues into a lengthy discussion of the technology, its history, and what makes machine learning work. This middle section of the book covers much of China’s recent technological and Internet revolutions as well as how it is prime soil for innovation and developments in AI. The final sections of the book discuss both the potential problems related to artificial intelligence and it’s implementation, as well as Lee’s own story and unique contributions and problem solving.

Strengths

I found the strengths of this book to be manifold. First, Lee is uniquely qualified to give a tour de force of the current state of affairs of artificial intelligence in both America and China. He rightly highlights the strengths of both nations in the AI universe. For example, he rightly notes the research leadership of the US and Silicon Valley companies like Facebook and Google. He also highlights the growing and bustling entrepreneurial muscle developing in the Chinese arena. Secondly, Lee does a good job in removing some of the hype surrounding AI where people wrongfully fear what is know as artificial general intelligence (or AGI) quickly replacing human beings. He rightly highlights the overwhelming successes of “machine learning” and AI systems tasked to do very specific jobs well. This capability of pattern matching done by algorithms trained on massive data sets is where the future of artificial intelligence truly exists. Lee rightly highlights the successes in machine learning which hold much promise for medicine, transportation, finance, and other data intensive industries. Third, Lee states the important concern of massive job eliminations and the possibility of great social unrest due to the huge success of artificial intelligence companies. The companies leading the AI revolution and the massive wealth they will generate for their shareholders hold the potential to create mass unemployment and even more massive income disparity among the richest and the poorest among us. Finally, the most striking strength of this book is how personal it gets in the latter chapters. As I did not read any reviews of the work prior to engaging with it, I was a bit taken aback by the testimonial nature of the story that unfolded. Lee‘s own interaction with a cancer diagnosis and his own mortality gave the ending of the book quite an unexpected twist. I found his own spiritual journey a pleasant surprise as Lee interacted and looked back over his own career and family. An engineer wrestling with what it means to love and be a human being was not what I expected to find in this volume. It was a wonderful surprise.

Weaknesses

I do not offer these critiques in any way to be dismissive of this work. In fact, I want to offer a few suggestions as if giving them to a friend. I think this work has much to be commended and could be improved in follow-up writings by Mr. Lee.

First, a more philosophically rigorous grounding of his claims that life is about love and relationships rather than human beings being a means to economic and material production was warranted. After a diagnosis of stage four lymphoma, Lee seems to go on a spiritual walkabout of sorts as he looked back on his life. Seemingly filled with regrets of opportunities missed and time lost, Lee realizes that life is not about maximizing his productivity and impact but rather about the relationships and love that could be shared with other human beings. From his own words, this seems to be based on a mixture of theistic beliefs from an earlier adherence to Christianity mixed in with a form of humanistic Buddhism he learned from a master in a monastery in Taiwan. Though I would fully agree with him that the clues to the meaning of life are found in love and relationships, he does not ground this with any sort of argument or serious philosophical or theological reflection. Many who are involved in the artificial intelligence enterprise are likely philosophical naturalists and materialists, and I doubt they would find his change of heart to be much more than a man’s own fear of his mortality. Due to the fact that Lee offers many solutions to AI/unemployment/social unrest from this a desire for human love and relationship seems to me that it be important that he ground of these things in some solid argument. This leads me to my second critique.

Lee’s solutions to the coming problems of job replacement by intelligent machines is that humans will create jobs that located in loving service, volunteering, and relationship support. The future he proposes is a cooperation between entrepreneurship, centralized government action, and in the individual desire to serve one another in love.  Amen and amen.

Though I find nothing wrong with an increase in the human work that has generally belonged to the religious and nonprofit sector, some of his solutions came off to me as wildly optimistic. It is almost as if an AI generated employment crisis will turn human beings into angels rather than devils in Lee’s envisioned future. His idea that all the humans will use their job time to love and to serve appeals to the perfect angels of our nature and does not take into account human fear, selfishness, and sin. Human beings are equally likely, or in my view perhaps more likely, to turn savage in massive unemployment as they are to turn to loving. As such, Lee’s view is somewhat utopian and perhaps belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven rather than the world of man and his machines.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I highly recommend this work to anyone interested in the development, history, and near future of artificial intelligence and its potential impact on our world. Furthermore, I deeply resonated with Lee’s human story and his desire for a more loving in human future. We need more technologists, not less, who desire a future for human beings rather than their own mechanistic creations. Though I personally found Lee’s solutions to be filled with a high dose of optimism, his voice is one that I do hope shapes and flourishes in the future of our work with intelligent machines. After all, there is plenty of technological pessimism to go around in our world, and a little optimism never hurt any of us. However, a more thorough view of our future should deal with both the beauty and depravity of the human beings as well as our nature as bearers of the image of God.

In this, we find meaning for our creations and in our own creatureliness. In this we find the ultimate center for love and relationship. The fact that we are created beings who share a common humanity should lead us to ensure that our machines should serve our fellow humans. Yet if we simply look to our material appetites, arrogance, and greed, our technology may unleash a hell on earth rather than a technoutopian future.

Additional Reflections  

For some Christian reflections on artificial intelligence and our future please see the following resources:

1. Should we Fear AI by John C. Lennox - https://youtu.be/njU4u2hMFnE

2. Technology and a Human Future a Gospel Underground discussion by Reid S. Monaghan, Jesse Furey https://www.gospelunderground.org/podcast/2017/9/29/episode-4-technology-and-our-human-future

The Works of Candice Millard

Over the years I have grown to appreciate reading history from various eras and epochs. I have deeply enjoyed the works of Roger Crowley and his treatment of the Mediterranean world in the middle ages. I have loved the American narrative history of David McCullough. The telling of the stories of various spies is in World War II by Ben McIntyre have fascinated and the historical intrigue of the works of Erik Larson I have found thrilling. Over the last few years I have grown a deep appreciation for another historical author and her works. Namely, Candice Millard.

The first book I read from her was entitled "Destiny of the Republic" and is a wonderful look at the life, assassination and medical treatment of President James A. Garfield. She introduced me to a time in history I knew little about and a president whose tenure was shortened by a bullet, or more accurately, an infection from a minor bullet wound. She also featured the technological innovations of Alexander Graham Bell and how certain technologies and medical knowledge could have easily saved this president if just a few years later in history. Recently, I took up her new work on the young years of one Winston Churchill. 

Her newest book entitled "Hero of the Empire" features happenings leading up to and during the Boer Wars between the British Empire and various republics in South Africa. I learned much about young Churchill, how leaders are formed and shaped as well as some early history and precursors to one of the more racist regimes in world history. 

I cannot recommend the works of Millard enough and all three of her published books get two thumbs up from me. Enjoy any of the following...

The River of Doubt - Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

Destiny of the Republic - A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

Hero of the Empire - The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill

Guardians of the Galaxy and a Mirror to our World

This review and commentary first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Well Thought. The thought journal of Jacob's Well in North Brunswick, NJ. It was a collaborative writing project between myself and the inimitable Simon P. Clark. 

This summer, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy became a box office smash, grossing more than $650 million worldwide as of September 2014 – and all this despite the relatively obscure fictional universe that Guardian of the Galaxy is based on. While DC Comics’ Batman and Superman are household names and Marvel’s string of Avengers movies brings together a string of already beloved heroes, Guardians of the Galaxy is, for all intents and purposes, an enigma. How did a movie with no widely established international fan base, whose heroes include a genetically modified talking raccoon and a tree get so big so quickly? The answer may lie in what it says about our own culture, rather than those of other worlds.

First, let’s make one thing clear – we are both huge fans of this movie (and Reid can boast that he was a fan of the comics long before the leap to screen). It’s a space epic that relies just as much on witty and engaging characters as it does on a complex, high-stakes plot. It’s also a movie that, despite being based on comic books  (or perhaps because of it) deals with some decidedly PG-13 stuff. Guardians of the Galaxy has it all: explosions, danger, snappy dialogue and relatable characters. More than anything, it’s a movie that speaks about one thing: being human.

Guardians of Humanity

Who doesn’t want to be a hero? We all dream, as kids and as adults, of being special, being placed in a situation that demands something extra and stepping up to save the day. This isn’t anything new. What do Star Wars, Star Trek, Spider-Man, Iron Man – in fact most action movies – have in common? Family and friends are in danger, there is fracture and loss, a mission to overcome a threat, and the promise of a newer, safer community as a reward. Guardians gives us all of this while managing never to lose the characters’ individual human touches – something with which many great movies struggle. Groot, a sentient tree, has time to give a single flower to a child as a simple act of kindness in a world that’s falling into chaos. Gamora, adopted daughter of Thanos (which is, let’s not forget, Greek for ‘death’), turns her back on a life of cruelty and subjugation in search of freedom and heroism. They may be aliens, but they’re aliens that audiences can relate to and root for. It’s this relation – between audiences and the characters of Guardians – that’s the true secret to the movie’s phenomenal success. Guardians’ heroes, you see, are far from perfect. Instead, they’re just what people want most in the 21st Century: murderers, assassins, thieves, and bandits ... with good, even noble, hearts.

Guardians of the West

‘Be good ... but not too good’ is, arguably, one of the most prevalent messages in our culture today. The rebel with a cause – the gentleman thief – seems to speak to something in modern Western civilization that’s never quite been here before. When did it become a bad thing to be too good? At Guardian’s heart is its protagonist, Star-Lord – a thief with a conscience, who has no problem breaking rules. That’s why Guardians works: it’s managed to present its main character in the perfect sweet spot between do gooders and baddies. We’re told increasingly by society that the best place to be, morally, legally, and even spiritually, is in the middle: rebels who act nicely, but are happy to break the law. We’re told to be our own persons, as long as we temper our bad sides with a little charity every now and then. Guardians exemplifies and glorifies this world view (and does a fantastic job of it). The movie ends with perhaps the most succinct summation of this philosophy: Star-Lord defending himself in the face of his obvious flaws, explains that while he “may be” difficult, he’s “not 100%” selfish. Well, he uses some language that is a bit more salty than this. Is that a good thing? Is it better to openly be a bit of both, good and bad, than to strive to follow a path that is good, right and true? In the Guardians universe, the answer’s a resounding yes. In our universe, things aren’t so clear.

Conclusion

Towards the end of the film, after clear acts of heroism and virtue, some of Guardians main characters engage in some witty and fun dialogue. Speaking to a police officer-type, Rocket Raccoon asks about a new moral dilemma he faces: "If I see something someone else has, and I want it really bad, can I just take it?" The cop, of course, answers that no, that would be stealing. Rocket, stuck on this line of thought alone, goes further: "But what if I want it really bad and much more than them?"

Similarly, Drax – one of the more muscled fighters of the Guardians – asks: "If someone says something irksome, can I rip out his spine?" The answer? "No, that would be … murder." It's all goes to show us that now that the characters are good, they really don't want to be that good.

Years ago, the French philosopher Simone Weil made an astute observation. In her book Gravity and Grace she wrote the following:

Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.”

                                                                                                         ― Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace, 120.

What she wants us to see is that while evil in the fictional world can be exciting and fun, in the real world it is terrible and inhumane. Too much goodness in our books and movies gets boring, while our world is greatly starved of bold, courageous virtue.

Guardians of the Galaxy is just a movie, of course, so we don’t have to worry about the victims of the thieves and the assassins we’re told to love. There’s nothing wrong with that, either. You can love Indiana Jones without worrying that he doesn’t follow international treaties for the removal of antiquities. You can love this movie without worrying that it glorifies violence and law breaking. It’s worth thinking about, though, how different things in the real world might be if, in place of self-justifying rebellion, sacrificial love were the basis for community. This is what we strive for in the church: clear and compelling love and an embrace of truth and goodness. In fact, this sort of sacrificial love and goodness is what forms our rebellious guardians into an actual family on a mission.

We see Drax thanking his friends for forgiving him his many blunders. We see Groot have his only line in the film, "I am Groot," turn into "we are Groot” precisely at the moment where he is giving up his life for his friends. In Guardians of the Galaxy we see a group of misfits and losers formed into a new family -  one that lives out a bold mission. How does this happen? It is not through selfish, rebellious and evil-doing behavior. It is sacrificial love that forms their community.

One of the rallying scenes towards the end of the film shows the Guardians coming together to undertake an impossible task: deciding why they should give their lives to save the universe. Star-Lord, going beyond his earlier reasoning that they should save the galaxy because they are part of it, says this: “I look around and see losers. Life has given us a chance to give a #^&*...” His friends know that his call to action may very well mean a call to die. Drax’s reply is simple: "You are asking us to die? I would gladly die among my friends.”

Such sacrificial love, and real communities of friends built upon it, aren’t hard to find in this world. Jesus himself said there was no greater love than to lay life down for his friends. In Jesus we see exciting goodness, clear truth and compelling beauty. In his leadership and sacrificial love, we see a new community emerge with a glorious mission and hope.  Jesus’ call to us is to die to ourselves as we live out his mission among friends. In fact, he already died for his friends and showed himself to be the greatest leader this world has known.

We have been called to be guardians of the galaxy, in a sense, because we have indeed received good news. No misfit is too far away or too far gone to receive forgiveness and grace from God. The good news is that Jesus takes a bunch of screw ups, puts them together as a new family, calls them to give their lives for others so that many will be saved and join the team of redemption throughout the world.

In our world today following after God in true righteousness might just be the greatest rebellion there can be. Is it possible that we can be bold and bad by truly joining a revolution for good? The late British journalist and literary critic GK Chesterton says this so well:

In the upper world hell once rebelled against heaven. But in this world heaven is rebelling against hell. For the Orthodox there can always be a revolution; for a revolution is a restoration.

The Guardians of the Galaxy, a rabble band of misfits from various backgrounds, stories, skin colors, sizes and shapes sought to restore peace to a war-troubled universe. We bring a higher call to the table as we seek to see people restored to peace with God and one another. This is the precise reason that Jesus has a people.

Book Review - Counseling Hard Cases

Stuart Scott, and Heath Lambert, eds., Counseling the Hard Cases, Digital Ed (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2012)

Review written for external studies coursework I am doing as a student at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY. 

Introduction

Within evangelical circles one of the more divisive issues discussed is the role of secular psychology in counseling and the care of souls. There are various camps with claims and positions arrayed along a wide spectrum of belief and practice. Dr. Stuart Scott and Dr. Heath Lambert, two leaders in the modern biblical counseling movement, have put together a unique volume designed to demonstrate the sufficiency of their methods for cases typically seen as two difficult for those relying on Scripture and its resources. Their work, Counseling the Hard Cases, is a compilation of stories from actual practitioners and their experiences with cases deemed by many as beyond the resources of biblical counseling. In this review I will summarize the content of the book, offer some analysis of the work and the examples therein, and then close with some concluding thoughts about the helpfulness of this book to contemporary life and mission.

Summary

The purpose of the book is set forth in a very helpful introductory chapter by Dr. Heath Lambert. Lambert describes the purpose and ethos of the book is to demonstrate through stories that biblical counseling is indeed up to the task of the most difficult counseling cases. The introduction also orients the reader to the debates within the evangelical community. By “hard cases” the authors mean those which are typically referred out to “mental health professionals” and beyond the scope of gospel ministry. Lambert describes the purpose for the book in this way:

The reason for this book, however, is to avoid making that argument in the abstract. Anyone who teaches biblical counseling knows what it is like to be discussing the sufficiency of Scripture and to see a hand go up: “But what about the hard cases? What about schizophrenia, sexual abuse, eating disorders, bipolar? When you say that the Bible is sufficient, do you really mean that it’s sufficient for those problems? (Kindle, Loc 547, emphasis in original)

The answer of the authors in this compilation of essays is a resounding “Yes, it is sufficient for those as well!” The counselors presenting their cases in the volume all believe that helping people is a worldview laden enterprise and the gospel, showing forth the true view of humanity’s problems, is more than equal to the task. So this work is an apologetic of sorts for those who doubt that biblical approach can tackle the most difficult types of problems that counselors and therapists are faced with today. The stories in the book are to be a counter-argument to those who may look with scorn at the practical helpfulness of the gospel to those facing deep issues of the soul in our time.

Critical Reflection

After reading this work I found it to have mostly made a very strong case for the wise use of the means and methods of biblical counseling in the most difficult of cases. I found the book to contain some profound strengths as well as a few areas I found lacking. I will handle each of these in turn.

Strengths

The main strength of the book is the wide variety of stories that are presented. A quick perusal through the table of contents will reveal sexual abuse, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), postpartum depression, paralyzing fear, anorexia nervosa, bipolar disorder, dissociative identity disorder, as well as various addictions and sexual sins. Having such a variety gives a strong perspective for how the tools of biblical counseling are applied in such diverse cases. Yet within this diversity there also emerged a consistent methodology. Each of the counselors followed a similar pattern and I found this to be a strength of the work. It was quite illustrative of what biblical counselors actually do. The methodology observed contained some if not all of the following in each of the cases. First, the counselor would patiently listen well, take notes, and hear the person’s story.  This was response to the exhortation to listen well given to us in Proverbs 18:13. Second, an affirmation was given to the counselee that they were not alone in their struggle and that their temptation was “common to all” and that God could help them (1 Corinthians 10:13). Third, hope in the gospel was offered on the front end as encouragement to trust God to help as they moved forward. Fourth, together the counselor/counselee would look deeply into issues of the heart where desire and sin corrupt and twist us into various forms of depravity. James 1:14,15 was cited to locate temptation in our hearts that are indeed in need of transformation. This investigation into the soul was usually done with various types of homework given. Reading of books, reading and memorization of scripture as well as the keeping journals related to temptation and struggle. This was all done in order to locate the patterns of sin in the heart. Finally the practice of confession, repentance and perseverance with a progressive understanding of sanctification (life change, progressively over time) was present in nearly every case. This diversity of cases along with this unified methodology showed that the counselor was indeed relying on the gospel and the Word of God even as each case and its nuances were addressed. One further observed strength was the importance of the church community in helping one another. This was a beautiful addition to counseling which in the modern world has become so individualized. In chapter 4 on postpartum depression a beautiful vision of the church loving and serving one another was on display. Finally, the book showed a strong view of human persons as psychosomatic unities (bodies and souls). As such there was a robust emphasis on medical science and wisdom from doctors. A particularly helpful chapter highlighting this was from Dan Wickert who is a practicing MD as well as a biblical counselor.  The chapters on fear, postpartum, and anorexia all gave wise attention to the effects of the body upon the soul and of the soul upon the body.  With these strengths noticed I did see a few small drawbacks to the book.

Weaknesses

If I had to locate any weakness in the volume it might have been in the tone that was demonstrated at times. As this was a work of apologetics, you could hear that the biblical counselors wanted to show clearly the strength of their view. My question was would Christian psychologists or integrationists be won over by the tone of the book. If I were coming from another evangelical counseling position, my question might be “is there any give/take with others” or is this just an exercise of made up minds showing us that their system works best. A second critique I might have for the work overall is that there was much emphasis on the Word of God (see strength above) but not as much discussion of the dynamic work of the Spirit in sanctification.  “Apply the Word” seemed to be the center of most of the counseling cases whereas the dynamic, relational aspect of the Christian journey was not highlighted as much. I think this may be the reason why, unfairly I might add, the biblical counseling movement is accused of “prescribing bible verses.” A stronger emphasis on wisdom, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and a bit more flexibility or honesty about the messiness of the process might be helpful if made clearer. A series of steps and biblical applications is helpful and very good to learn as one doing biblical counseling. Walking among the missteps of life trusting the Spirit’s power is a way disciples are made as well. The book was quite strong on the former and a little weaker on the latter.

Conclusion

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Counseling Hard Cases and will refer back to it in my own ministry. The clarity of method, mastery of Scripture, love for people and perseverance of the counselors was inspiring and inspired in me significant hope. Their care, patience, concern and biblical knowledge brought to bear within hard cases makes me desire to continue to grow in my capabilities as a counselor. Yet more than anything the book encouraged me to trust the Lord, his Word and his Spirit to lead us in the process of being made whole by the gospel.  Those who make the time to read Counseling Hard Cases will be blessed by the wisdom found in these pages and perhaps a few Christian counselors and integrationists will be convinced that the tools found in Scripture are indeed profitable and sufficient for the treatment of souls.

What might God say to the IRON MAN?

Confession: I loved comic books growing up. Not simply an awareness of them but collecting them, bagging them, boarding them, knowing their value in various conditions, reading various strength levels and super powers in Marvel Universe almanacs etc. Not sure how that happened but I still have a box of them in my attic. I think I enjoyed them because they develop interesting characters; characters you follow and watch develop over many issues and many years. In light of this I have been a full supporter of the comicbookization of Hollywood.  Seeing the Marvel Universe come to the big screens has been more than a little fun for me.  Not sure if my old favorites Powerman and Iron Fist are ever going to make it to the 3D screen, but who knows.

I say all of this to comment briefly on a scene from Marvel’s new movie The Avengers.  Now, before you judge this film, you should see it.  Sometimes a movie everyone likes is good and everyone likes it because it is good. That is for my film snob friends reading.  I saw the Avengers twice in its opening weekend. Why? For the children of course. I had to see it with my wife on Friday (my day off) to grasp why it had its PG-13 rating to decide whether my daughters could see the film.  After we determined the girls could go, Sunday night we hit the show on a Daddy date.  Tommy would be freaked out and afraid of the Hulk so he is not seeing it any time soon.

One scene that got quite a bit of traction in the trailer and is important to two of the main characters flows as follows.  For Avengers newbies, Tony Stark is Iron Man and Steve Rogers is Captain America.  Stark is a spooky smart guy who has invented some killer high tech weaponry and has a history of womanizing. Rogers is a super soldier from the early 20th century who got frozen in ice. His values are old school. Here is the short dialogue:

• Steve Rogers: Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?
• Tony Stark: Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.
• Steve Rogers: I know guys with none of that worth ten of you

So after thinking for a moment about this intense exchange between super heroes, I paused and asked what God might have to say to the IRON MAN:

• Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 ESV
• And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15 ESV
• “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28 ESV
• “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:1-4 ESV

Is there something deeper that Captain America is getting at? Is there something bigger, more important going on in life that our “external suit”, our abilities, what we have and do? Jesus asked the following questions and I think asking them today would be good for you:

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?

One of the great story-lines in the Avengers film is what takes place in the relationship between Cap and Iron Man…this dialogue isn’t the end of it so I recommend the movie to watch the rest of that story unfold.

New Biography on GK Chesterton

Many people may be unfamiliar with one of the foremost British authors of the earliest 20th century so I am thankful for a new biography which might introduce Gilbert Keith Chesterton to a new generation of readers. In fact, Chesterton’s works were influential on many in the English speaking world with many apologists for the Christian faith finding rich soils in Chestertonian writings. Both CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien were influenced by Chesterton who preceded them in the British literary world.

I have read (and reread) Chesterton’s book Orthodoxy to the point where I have many sections of it put to memory. I also deeply enjoyed his short biographies on St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas the latter having the delightful subtitle “The Dumb Ox.” I know these works well but was somewhat ignorant as to the scope of this literary giants work. I am finishing a new biography entitled Defiant Joy: The Remarkable Life and Impact of GK Chesterton which has been of great help to me in expanding my knowledge of Chesterton and his thought.The work is by Kevin Belmonte who has done Chesterton studies a great favor with this book.

Belmonte’s biography begins with the typical early life information one expects with books of this kind but then he takes you on a fascinating journey throughout the rest of the book. As Chesterton was a man of letters, Belmonte’s work proceeds by unfolding the biography along the lines of his major works. Each chapter is focused on one of Chesterton’s literary achievements and then covers life details which surrounded the production of that work. So this book is not only a good introduction to Chesterton the man, it is also a well suited orientation to each of his major works. Each chapter gives us the background to what was happening in the thought world of Chesterton’s day, his interlocutors and the major thrust of his book, poem or collection of essays. I particularly enjoyed the interactions which Chesterton had with his ideological opponents George Bernard Shaw and HG Wells. You can learn much about a man in how he treats his friends. Even more how he treats friends whose ideas he most vigorously opposes.

The only drawback I found in the work is that due to the aforementioned strength I wish I knew a little more of the man apart from his letters. Yes, there is mention of his marriage to Frances but I found myself wanting to hear more about his family life and what made him tick. Yet as I am sure Belmonte would say, to know the man we must look to his writings. 

Chesterton has indeed left a profound literary legacy in our world and I can only commend his work to you even more after reading Defiant Joy. My own journey into his books has just begun as I soon while dive in to his The Everlasting Man, a book once commended by CS Lewis as the best popular apologetic to the Christian faith he knew of.

With the proliferation of electronic books it is amazing to see just how much of Chesterton is available free of charge for the Kindle and other ebook formats. If you must begin anywhere with Chesterton I recommend Orthodoxy as it lays forth his wonder filled view of mere Christianity in strident colors. One warning if you love quotations and reading a book with a highlighter. You may soon find yourself highlighting so much that the effort may leave little uncovered print. My hard copy of Orthodoxy is well worn, marked up with many colors of pen and ink.  One caveat as you begin to read GK. He is a master of paradox and turning of a phrase. Many of my friends “get him” right away while others have to read each paragraph really slowly to follow his creative dance of thought.  Whether you find reading him easy or slow going, I promise you the work is well worth your time.

You can grab Defiant Joy here

A few weeks with Colonel Roosevelt

Over the last few weeks I have been joyfully wandering through Edmund Morris’ new book “Colonel Roosevelt” which covers the final period of the life of one of America’s most interesting and influential presidents. The book is the third in a trilogy of works by Morris which have been published over the last few decades. The first work was the Pulitzer prize winning “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt” and the second, covering his almost eight years as president, was aptly entitled “Theodore Rex”

Colonel Roosevelt begins with the African Safari Roosevelt took after stepping away from the presidency in immense popularity concluding his second term in 1908.  The book covers the later years of a career that saw Roosevelt as nature enthusiast, adventurer, international statesmen, author, public intellectual, politician, 3rd party presidential candidate, advocate for WWI preparedness, father/family man and finally a dying icon on the American scene.  

Beginning this book I felt I knew very little about Theodore Roosevelt beyond some very small details picked up along the way in the educational process. After reading this work I very much look forward to reading Morris’ first two installments on the life of this man.  Certainly Roosevelt was a man of his times; some of his time was in need of transformation. At the same time I felt that much of what this man exemplified has been lost in our day.  An advocate for progressive reform in politics, but also not afraid to fight for honor and truth.  A man who despised passive, emasculated manhood, yet was a loving husband and father. A man who would chase down lions in the wilderness and get down on the floor to play with the kids.  As a Harvard graduate who was fluent in multiple languages, he was a scholar and perhaps one of the best and widest read presidents we have had. At the same time he was also man who would have loved MMA (he had a love for boxing and apparently had lessons in jiu-jitsu and a brown belt in judo - or as he wrote to his sons…he liked “manly sports”)

To put it plainly, Theodore Roosevelt was a dude.  A person who would have exemplified the quality that Harvard professor Harvey C. Mansfield recently called Manliness.  Yes, he thought a bit much of himself. Yes, he was never lacking words and always spoke his mind somewhat loudly. Yes, he thought war could be virtuous and called pacifists “aunties” and “sublimated sweetbreads.” Perfect man, no way. One of the more interesting people I have ever encountered? Indeed.

I found myself with real tears in the eyes as the story of his death was told in this book. I felt a sense of loss that such a figure would be consumed by that great enemy of the grave. I then remembered the words of Ecclesiastes which say “No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death.” The great ones all come and go the same way and some inspire others along the way.

Teddy Roosevelt is now a new friend - an enigmatic one.  One who was at home in a bar fight and in the courts of European royalty. In short, Roosevelt was not simply a man, he was a dude…one who believed in virtue, adventure, nobility and masculine strength aimed at proper ends.  As such, I am all the better for having read this book and anticipate the journey into the earlier books of the trilogy.

Note: For those with commutes or enjoy audio books, Colonel Roosevelt as read by Mark Deakins was a delightful listen with the readers “Roosevelt” voice for each of his quotations a stunning joy which brought me many laugh out loud moments. 

Surprised by History

This summer I have been a bit into some reading of history. For some time I have loved the history of ideas and how these flow from people in various political, social and economic contexts.  Good history is also something done by good story tellers - I have been blessed by both of late.  

Here are a few titles which have occupied my mind a bit over the last several months. I also have become somewhat addicted to the audio book reading of John Lee - very intoxicating.

Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century by Michael Hiltzik - this book was a fascinating look at the history of southwestern United States, water rights, the entrepreneurs and engineers who put blood, sweat, tears and political wrangling into the project to bring electrical power and water to the arid dessert.  Very good read that covers a broad history and range of subject.  Book and Audiobook

Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World by Roger Crowley - A wonderful read that focuses on the 16th century battles between the great Mediterranean sea powers of the Spanish and Ottomon Empires. The story of the Battle of Malta was unfamiliar to me and I am thankful that this deficit has now been remedied.  Book and Audiobook

Worlds At War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West by Anthony Pagden - Though a bit tainted by the author’s massive secular bias, this book nonetheless succeeds at covering a massive swath of history. It truly does traverse the entire 2500 years.  I really felt like the author had a naive and ignorant view of religion and the conclusion of the book was just weak and demonstrative of the lack of any real vision secularism offers today. It was worth the time to read; I particularly enjoyed the early histories involving Alexander the Great and the Persian empires. This book is also very long. Book and Audiobook

Lee: A Life of Virtue (The Generals) by John Perry - A short treatment of the life of Robert E. Lee with emphasis on his character and virtue as a leader.  This was my first book on Lee and I found it interesting and compelling enough for me to add two very long movies to our Netflix Queue :-) Book and Audiobook. 

The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade bySusan Wise Bauer - I enjoyed this much more than Pagden’s work as it did not carry the anti-religious baggage along the journey.  Bauer covers not only the typical western far but also the histories of Islamic empires and those ruling the lands of China, India and Japan.  Though the western histories are a bit more robust the breadth of the treatment of the time period was much appreciated.  Bauer is an English prof at the college of William and Mary and appears to be married to a minister. This showed in both her writing and lack of derogatory tone towards religious views. Also very long. Book and Audiobook

OK, that’s all for now - I’m off in search for my next read in history - love medieval and late medieval periods so I may land there.  

Any suggestions?

A few thoughts on Avatar...

There are many times I walk into a movie theater uncertain whether or not the film before me will be enjoyable, cause meditation of gospel and human themes and be worth the time to hear the story be told. There are other times when I simply know I will like the movie ahead of time.  Avatar was one such movie. I knew the combination of consciousness transfer, technologically animated bodies, strange creatures on strange worlds and a huge SciFi mega battle would be right in the range of awesome for me.  What I did not expect was the visual spectacle that is Avatar.  What follows is not a formal film review, but simply some thoughts which left the theater with me on opening night.  Yes, I saw it opening night, it is what I wanted to do for my birthday. :)

From the outset let me say this.  Movie theaters are one of the venues that our culture does its story telling and many times heavy doses of proselytizing and preaching ideas.  I participate not as a convert who lives his life through the movies or worships the next creation of an established or up and coming film making. I participate to learn, enjoy and think about who we are and what we are saying to ourselves today as a people.  My definition and narrative that I live is the one lived out on earth, inspired by the creator God, culminating in Jesus the unique God incarnate and the savior of the human race.  It is precisely because I find the gospel true that I care about modern pulpits like the movies; there are other gospels being compellingly preached all the time to those in stadium seating across our country.  Just as any person bringing the gospel to a people with a different religion and world view should care to understand the beliefs of a people, so we should care about the stories our friends live by…many times at the movies.  With that said, I really enjoyed Avatar and had some deep questions about its message.  Let me share why.

Loved the Spectacle that is Avatar

I cannot say this enough, Avatar is a stunningly visual movie.  The world created by the Cameron and his cohorts cannot even be described fully; it must be seen.  The makers of Avatar crafted an entire alien world that seamlessly blends together creatures, deadly monsters, a unique natural world, humans, some mind blowing technology and machines of war.  The film is a constant blend of CGI and human performances presented in a wonderful display of real 3D technology.  From the beginning until the end I was riveted by the creative imagination being displayed floating before us.  To be honest, I will likely see Avatar again (maybe in IMAX) as it reflects much of what I enjoy in the science fiction genre. 

The storyline and screenplay are not award worthy, but it is a story that moves, draws you in and culminates simply.  The plot is easy to predict but this does not detract from the story.  It is definitely not as thoughtful/cerebral as I would like as it doesn’t require much wrestling with ideas. There is of course some techo nature worshiping, goddess centered pantheism (more on this in a bit) but it was assumed with tribal simplicity and not wrestled with seriously.  For those new to the Avatar world, here is a synopsis from 20th Century Fox:

Avatar is the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people. More than ten years in the making, Avatar marks Cameron’s return to feature directing since helming 1997’s Titanic, the highest grossing film of all time and winner of eleven Oscars® including Best Picture. WETA Digital, renowned for its work in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong, will incorporate new intuitive CGI technologies to transform the environments and characters into photorealistic 3D imagery that will transport the audience into the alien world rich with imaginative vistas, creatures and characters. —© 20th Century Fox

For a more thorough summary of the plot let imdb be your friend. 

The film is longish but certainly does not feel so.  There was not one part in the movie when I felt the story or the action was dragging.  Granted, it is not simply a techno shoot em up as there is some character development along the way.  The performance turned in by Zoe Saldana as the princess of the Na’vi is excellent and in my opinion overshadows everyone else.  Of course, a hat tip to the computer animators as they made the 10 foot tall blue chick to go along with Saldana’s performance. 

In summary, I really liked Avatar.  It was fun, had the most mind blowing worlds on screen and hits basic themes that human beings like.  The underdog wins, the oppressor is vanquished, there is the hero/redeemer that is selected by some sort of divinity, there is a love story, a coming of age story, belonging to a family, betrayal, redemption and the like.  Come to think of it Avatar is one big cliche dressed up all fancy in another fantastical world; a masterfully created spectacle of a world at that.  

My Questions with Avatar

Though I really enjoyed Avatar some of its content was a bit sophomoric when you think about it for more than a few seconds.  Though it is not a film that I would mock in any way, there are some preachy moments that came off a bit silly to me. Some of are themes deeply woven into the plot, others were lines of dialog that were so transparently jabs at certain points of view that it was hard to take serious. I wish I had more to interact with philosophically from Avatar, but here are a few thoughts I did take away from the messages being proclaimed. 

Is Technology Good or Bad?

One thing I liked about Avatar was some thought about the virtues and use of technology. Though it was not as nuanced a discussion as one might want, the film does cause some reflection about the importance and centrality of technology. First, the humans are using sophisticated technology while the native Na’vi are much more simple people tied to their natural world.  Of course, the humans think that they are primitive savages but what you learn in the film is that a harmonious relationship with nature exists with the Na’vi while the humans are just raping the land for a valuable mineral using technology. The way of life of the Na’vi is seen as spiritual, respectful of nature and they are just a perfect happy Utopian sort of people (more on this late). 

Though the human technology is superior it is used for destruction and shows no respect for “mother” nature. To be honest, it is all a bit preachy and you get the feeling that we would be better off if we were all running around in a perfect forest like the natives of Pandora. Of course, this world is not real. Ironically, it is a human, using sophisticated technology who saves the people but afterwards he is converted to be one of the Na’vi (called “The People”) in both body and consciousness.  The message seems to be nature over the creations of men, which is being presented to humans watching the creation of high tech film makers wearing 3D glasses in indoor theaters. Irony.

Now the Na’vi also have some interesting spiritual biotechnology in that the trees and animals all can interface/network with one another through interfaces akin to a biological USB cable.  In fact, the Navi’s long hair serves as a sort of USB dongle so that they can control six legged horses, flying reptiles and the like.  Who created this network and interrelationship is unclear, but one thing is.  This “nature” is the goddess mother in Avatar.  So rather than a pro science, con spirituality view, Avatar provides a naturotechnological mystical science that is so much better than you. 

Nature Worship, Gaia and the Goddess Mother

Avatar is also a movie steeped in religion and it is an exercise in preaching. The message is not even subtle or hidden but couched in the spirit of the age in such a way that audiences will likely not mind too much.  Western culture stands at an interesting epoch of its history.  It evolved from a people who were primarily farmers who believed in one creator God to a industrial people building all matter of stuff all over the planet in the name of “science and progress.”  Humans, through engineering and industry would create a Utopian existence and we would all sing to ourselves of our greatness.  Sadly, this did not occur.  Many today have grown skeptical about our ability to transform the world through building things and have realized how separated we have become from the natural environment which God created.  So today we have those who think industry and technology simple destroy the planet, pollute the world and ruin our lives.  The human creations that were reveled in during the 19th and 20th century have now become green house gas creating enemies for the green avant garde to rail against. Bad humans. This is undercurrent for the worldview of Avatar.

In addition to this, a simple people, dependent upon and in harmony with mother earth (or Mom Pandora) are seen as an almost perfect people.  Every time they kill a deer they snuggle up to it, thank it and almost regretfully eat it. They are mystics that consult Eywa, their God which is pretty much everything that exists and encompasses all. For those unaware of what pantheism is, God is all and all is God, go see Avatar, it is preached everywhere.

The Na’vi certainly are presented in the way some historians love to present native Americans.  They are peaceful, nature loving folks just being oppressed by the Europeans or the “sky people” in the case of Avatar.  Never mind, the warrior culture, warring clans, territorial battles and all that - the message you should get is “technological sky people = always bad” and “nature worship environmental loving people = good.”  No need for any sort of contoured reality, just fundamentalist and ideological proclamation. Those who have commented that Avatar is like “Dances With Wolves” in a galaxy far, far away seem pretty accurate in this observation.

I could get into some of the pantheistic philosophy of the movie but that would be a bit of a long journey.  I will mention I found it silly how Eywa is said not pick sides in wars, she just keeps “balance” of all things. Whatever balance happens to mean. I guess pantheists like having a balance of evil around to keep your honest or something.  Or we could then ask why this non side taking deity actually takes sides like a medieval deity and to win the war for those who hug her trees.

The religion of Avatar is a rehashing of the Gaia hypothesis mingled with pantheism. A whole world is divine and one big symbiotic organism.  The philosophical problem of individuation (or the one and the many) is obliterated with such views, where all are seen as one whole organism rather than individual beings in harmony with a creator that is not creation. 

In my mind, a more balanced view of nature is needed in our day, particularly in the West.  We need a view that advocates neither raping creation nor worshiping it as a goddess.  Rather, we need to see ourselves as responsible for caring for creation and utilizing our world for good.  Such responsibility has been uniquely given to human beings for the creation.  We are made in the image of God and called to cultivate and care for the world.  However, we are to worship the Creator, not the creation, and so use all things that have been made for the glory of God and the good of others.  

I always find it odd that those who think we are just specified apes and then think we have a moral duty to the environment in a way that is “different” than other animals.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe we do have a different responsibility than the beasts of the fields, I just don’t find such a duty deriving from naturalistic worldviews.  In theism, we have this moral responsibility and duty to God…we call it stewardship.

Surprisingly Human Story, which does not contain any of us

As mentioned earlier, there are so many human aspects that we love in a story contained in Avatar that are almost cliche. Yet one of the things I found a little frustrating with Avatar is how hard it is to find a real, contoured human character in the movie. The characters are either clearly wrong headed and wicked (see the white guys running both the corporation and the military) or they are simply the good team who seems to lack any tragic flaws.  Grace, Sigourney Weaver’s scientist character, is just learning…just learning away and would never harm a fly.  Well, maybe she would harm those evil white guys running things.  Jake Sully, the paralyzed marine and future hero/redeemer of the Na’vi, could be more interesting, but he goes from being seen as innocent to being Pandora’s Jesus Christ. Perhaps his dual loyalties to the sky people and the Na’vi could have revealed a human Sully, but you never believe in the movie that he is going to stay a marine, he is Na’vi from the time he puts on his 10 foot tall blue man suit.  I suppose when a movie just wants to preach, it does not need characters that are like us; simply characters that we wish we could be. 

I think you are left with the feeling from Avatar that we should all be like the Na’vi, especially if we could have cool technology that somehow mother earth just gave to us.  My problem is that the Na’vi are not real, they do not exist.  I do not mean to say that 10 foot tall blue people on Pandor do not exist, that is a given.  What I do mean is that people are truly innocent, untainted by sin, are not real.  We need redemption because we are deeply flawed, not because we just need to learn to be more like some phantasm of our minds.  Utopian visions of peoples or societies always let us down when we realize that we are human.  We know we belong in the clouds but yet are so much a part of earth.  This is precisely why I love the views of Jesus. He taught us that we are both more valuable than we can imagine, very much like God.  Yet he taught us that we are deeply wicked and in need of forgiveness and change that comes from outside of ourselves. 

So I find Avatar to have deep human themes in the story, but had very few humans living them out.  The story was incomplete in that sin lived only in “certain types” of people while others are presented as righteous altogether.  This is actually troubling to me as self-righteous people may watch this film and feel very good about themselves.  We are good, tree and nature loving people.  We are not like those warring people who like “terror against terror” and “shock and awe” (yes, there are clear and silly statements like this in the dialogue).  The ideologues of Hollywood love to declare their ideas and views to be good and those of others (usually libertarians or conservatives) to be eeeevil.  Avatar certainly, and in sophomoric fashion, goes after this shtick.  I was surprised their was not a call for government provided universal health care for the forest trees and some evil person saying NO! so he could be rich.

Conclusion

Overall, I loved the grandeur and visual spectacle of Avatar.  As a fan of sci fi movies I was thrilled to go, came out with sense of wonder at what I just watched. It is a movie unlike any I have ever seen and simply must be watched in 3D.  I will likely see it again because it was a pleasure to watch and experience and the story does have its redemptive elements.  The fact that some hero must indeed come and save us is a truth about the universe that we can never escape. Yet, in the midst of the spectacle there was so much preaching that I recommend people watch with a discerning mind.  Avatar represents the ideas of our age and not the truth about ourselves or about God.  Avatar contains false teaching and religion hidding behind every fluorescent Pandoran tree; be not deceived as it seems the makers of Avatar would like to remake you into their image. 

One final warning: if you see Avatar with a anti-war, tree hugging, mother goddess worshipping, hate George Bush, shock and awe hater, the terrorists are just misunderstood, I hate Obama now too for sending more troops, America is the evil empire type friend…beware, they are going to feel really good about themselves and will likely be ready to preach when you pass out beneath the exit signs.  It is probably a good time to go get coffee or a beer and chat a bit about Jesus.  If you see it with a Canadian…just kidding, we all love Canadians.

A few interesting books...

Recently I have been reading some sociological books on young people and young dudes in particular. It has been a good study and I thought I would recommend them for those hanging with the peoples born after 1970 (and yes, I barely make it into that club by 2 years)

• Guyland - The perilous world where boys become men by Michael Kimmel. Guyland chronicles the world that many college and frat boys travel in…until they are about 36 or so.  Just kidding - well maybe not. Interesting read on young male culture in America.
• Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before by Jean Twenge. Generation Me is a study of the perspectives of young people today regarding just about everything. A good read on the first generation taught to care more about “self” than about “duty” - yeah, interesting.

And a few pleasure reads - on audio book…

• Googled: The End of the World As We Know It by Ken Auletta- Another book about the history of Google but this one has some really interesting stuff about the affect of Google and the Internet on other major media companies, older paradigns. I enjoyed Auletta’s book on Microsoft and this one is great so far. I am a sucker for tech history books.
• Soren Kierkegaard - The Giants of Philosophy by John j. Stuhr - A very simple audio book on the late Danish philosopher.  For those new to philosophy these little vignettes are pretty good. I bought this one on iTunes and it is read by Charlton Heston…which is cool.

Also reading a bunch of commentaries on the gospel of Luke for our Let Jesus Speak series at the JDub.  Darryl Book and Leon Morris have been friends.  Most recent message can be found here.

Back to tending to the kiddos.

Over the Grave Vol 1

Let me first say that I love music, but am no music snob. I don’t know what bands are it and what bands are poo-poo.  I am also not a musician and know more about choking someone out with certain wrestling holds than I do about the fret of a musical instrument. Yet I am a human being…and I do like music.

I have to say I love the new album from our friends at Sojourn Community in Louisville. I am not going to review the album, I’ll let the experts do all that schmack talking…what I will say about the new album - Over the Grave - The Hymns of Issac Watts Vol 1 is this: Get it now...

The good people over at Sojourn Music have taken the excellent poetry and lyrical hymn writing and mixed it up a bit.  Well, strike that - they have writtent their own music, arranged and dropped killer tracks with these killer words. If you are new to Sojourn - their Before the Throne is very good as well.

Brooks Ritter just kills it on the track “Living Faith” - it also vibed awesomely with a message I am working on for this weekend. 

Enjoy

Book Review - Unfashionable

 

 Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different
by Tullian Tchividjian (Author), Timothy Keller (Foreword)

When another new book came out talking about the issue of "Christians and Culture" I first wanted to yawn.  I read in this area quite a bit and did not think someone could improve on the good work being done by the likes of Os Guinness, Tim Keller, DA Carson, Nancy Pearcy, Cornelius Plantinga and even popular level authors like Mark Driscoll, Andy Crouch and Dick Staub. Being somewhat of a junkie in this area of study I went ahead and clicked the Amazon.com buttons and had Amazon Prime send Tullian Tchividjian's Unfashionable my way. I have been pleasantly surprised.

In many ways Tchividjian says little that is new in this discussion but what he does give us is a book that can be read by anyone.  So often Christ/Culture treatments can get lost in theory, making more arm chair quarterbacks than missional practitioners.  Tchividjian is a pastor, a guy who is shaping these ideas in a real community and it comes through loud and clear in this volume. 

The subtitle of the work gives his thesis right away: making a difference in the world by being different. Tchividjian's goal is both critical and constructive in this book.  He realizes that there are great perils for the church that chooses to mimic the world to the point that it simply IS the world.  He also realizes that the church must understand and know culture in order to be a resistance community within it.  Too often the church falls off a cliff in one direction or another becoming either worldly or absent among the people she is called to connect with the gospel. On page 81 he sums up well the difficulties of living as God's people in a world that is in rebellion with its maker:

We've found it easy, as Andy Crouch points out in his book Culture Making to condemn culture, critique culture and consume culture. All too often we are guilty of cocooning, combating or conforming.

Tchividjian seems to strive for the right balance. He advocates walking in the world as a peculiar, unfashionable people who are set apart as different even as we live among the various tribes of culture. 

Strengths

I found several things to my liking in reading Tchividjian's work.  First, it is very approachable and could be read by scholar, pastor or layperson. Furthermore, the book's division is very helpful and drew me into the work. He begins with a section entitled "The Call" which chronicles God's call on Christians to be different in the world.  He begins with his personal story of being a prodigal from a godly home who left the church for the party life on South Beach. His return was not because church was cool, but it was so different as to be compelling and attractive.  This brought me right into the work.  Following the autobiographical discussion was a treatment on how we need not to clamor to be so cool that we are no longer salt and light in the world.  His focus on this generations desire for transcendent reality and connecting with something bigger than the normal was helpful for me as we are forming a culture in the early days of a church plant.

The second part of the work, "The Commission", is also the most meaty and perhaps most controversial.  In this section Tchividjian, following many other thinkers, sees God's work through the church as comprising more than simply saving souls for heaven, but taking part in manifesting the Kingdom on earth. We sojourn to God's final consummating of all things building kingdom culture along the way. We are to participate in the cultural mandate to steward and rule creation and to manifest a Kingdom culture in the here and now. In no way does he mute a conversionist gospel that calls individual sinners to repent and find salvation in Jesus Christ. What he does advocate is calling the church, made up of these saved souls, to create and redeem culture in the time appointed for us. Some may find this difficult to see in the Bible (case in point is Tim Challies review of the same work) but I find it very much the story of the Bible.

1. God creates and give man stewardship and vice regency with him on the earth.  We are to populate and cultivate (See Genesis 1-2)
2. Our sin and rebellion brings curse on creation and the work of our hands...yet we are called to populate and create even after the fall, after the flood (See Genesis 9)
3. God's decree to redeem a people comes through his covenant promises, is culminated with Jesus and extends through his people bringing the gospel
4. God's church is a community that represents the good news of the Kingdom in space and time - it is to multiply and teach what Jesus taught to others - this includes working jobs, loving people, making babies and building new communities as God saves new people.
5. God will make all things new through Jesus in the end - the culmination of creation is a new heavens and new earth.

So I guess I am unsure of what Mr. Challies and others are objecting to when they say that creating culture or a cultural commission is lacking in the Bible. I don't see how Christianity can be lived otherwise. 

One note of warning. Though Tchividjian warns against it (see pages 62, 63) there are others in his tradition that have advocated, using some of the same Kingdom Now thinking, for theonomy. I am thankful that he actually deemphasises politics and only calls for cultural renewal through persuasion and never compulsion.  My fear is that sometimes the "bringing the Kingdom to earth" sort of thinking ends up relying on the work of woman and men rather than the final coming of Jesus.

Part 3 of the book that is simple entitle "The Community" and is a discussion of what a counter cultural community looks like. Drawing on Paul's letter to the Ephesians Tchividjian lays out how we are called to a different sort of life now.  We are teaching through Ephesians right now at our church and when we get to the second half of that book I will be rereading Tullian's observations and application of this epistle. 

Finally, Tchividjian provides a great bibliography/reading list for those interested in the discussion of Christ and Culture. All the usual suspects are there but having these in one place is a great blessing.  Furthermore, he cites works from diverse theological perspectives which is always a plus in this discussion. Case in point is that you find Timothy Keller and Stanley Hauerwas on the same list.  Now on to a very small weaknesses observed.

Weaknesses

To be honest, I liked the book and only noted one minor annoyance for me. On several occasions Tchividjian refers to the Bible as "a manual for life." Now I understand him to mean that the Scripture has guidance for everyday living but this metaphor can be a bit misleading to some and can lead to misuses of the Bible. The Bible is primarily a revelation of Jesus Christ, God's character and his work in redeeming all things. I have avoided "the Bible as manual" and "the Bible as playbook" in the past several years as it leads to Christians seeing it as a "how to book" rather than a book that reveals God, brings life and then calls us to live in wisdom in light of its teaching. My issue is with the choice of metaphor more so than how Tchividjian handles the Bible. 

Conclusion

Tullian Tchividjian has written a book that strikes a needed balance between punking out to being the "cool church" in the world and being an irrelevant enclave speaking to no-one but those within its own walls.  The book is not only a balanced treatment of Christians relating to culture, it will also be accessible to a broad audience. Though there are more meaty and scholarly treatments around, this volume is one I would hand to people in my church to see the holistic calling God has on our community.  We are to preach the gospel that saves sinners and then live as an inbreaking of a new Kingdom in the here and now.  This affects how we live, eat, work, play, study, think, recreate and create. The mandate God has on us is to make disciples - converts to Jesus Christ who learn from him and then participate in God's work until he comes again.  This means keeping the two hands of gospel proclamation (atoning work of Jesus that saves from sin, death and hell) and Kingdom demonstration (including shaping culture) alive and well in our midst.

Recommended...

Book Review - Sammy and His Shepherd

 

I have just about finished reading and discussing the book Sammy and His Shepherd with my two oldest kids.  The book by Susan Hunt is an explanation of Psalm 23 by using a story about Sammy, who is a sheep, and his shepherd.  The story also includes another sheep who begins the story without a name but is simply called "My Friend" by Sammy. 

The book contains eleven chapters each treating a small portion of the classic Psalm.  The narrative unfolds as My Friend understands and experiences the leading of Sammy's shepherd.  The illustrations are modern and gritty which I really enjoyed.  Furthermore the illustrations are not tame and really give some contour to the story.  They are also friendly to all cultures as the shepherd is not presented as having blond hair and blue eyes.

Each chapter is paired with a discussion section which is found at the end fo the book.  The section has Scripture readings, reading comprehension questions and thoughts for living in light of what has been discussed.  This is a great addition to the narrative and my kids like the discussion aspect of the book more than anything.

Overall, I found this a welcome addition to our childrens library which addresses a wonderful Scripture in a way that is very contoured and real.  Popular Bible verses sometimes make it on to coffee cups and thereby loose their intended meaning - this is not so with Sammy and His Shepherd.  Remember, the valley of the shadow of death is not a happy place.  One final note, the book uses the ESV translation - always a plus for me.

Recommended...

Brains and Technology - Two Mini-Reviews

I have just finished listening to two interesting books in the last week.  One is about our brains and their function the other is about the brains behind Google and their plans to "organize all the worlds information."  Both deal with the future extensively in different ways.  The first speculates and wrestles with technology that will be created to make intelligent machines, the second looks at one ambitious company and its plans to make all information (yes, all) indexed and searchable for the common man.  I'll cover each only briefly and in turn.

On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee, 2004 Times Books

Some people will find the name Jeff Hawkins familiar.  He was the inventor behind the first Palm Handheld computers in the mid 1990s, went on to found HandSpring and its modular handhelds and Treo smartphones and finally came back home to Palm to extend and kick start the smartphone category in the market for cell phones.  What many do not know is that Hawkins is extremely interested in human brains and has written a book about.

On Intelligence is Hawkins discussion and framework for how the brain works and how insights into brain algorithms might help us create intelligent machines.  Like the terminator...just kidding, not exactly like that.  Hawkins book begins with his frustrations with what he considers the misguided thesis of strong AI (artificial intelligence).  Strong AI considers your brain to be a computer and that when we have enough computing power in computers we simply arrive at intelligence or consciousness.  Hawkins discusses this primarily through the failures of strong AI both in its brute force and neural network flavors.  He also delves into the philosophy of consciousness by highlighting one of my favorite philosophical illustrations - John Searle's Chinese Room.  I won't get into that sort of discussion here, that is found elsewhere on the POCBlog.  Hawkins then goes into his own (or rather a commentary on the scientific work of others - particularly Mountcastle) theory of intelligence as it relates to the cortex and its functioning. What is found is fascinating writing on memory systems and prediction as the key to intelligence.

The book offers some facinating discussion about how our brains work as a wonderful processor of patterns by what he refers to as a broad neocortical algorithm.  There was one glaring drawback for me in reading Hawkin's work - he is a physicalist who does not speak like one.  Now, I do not hold this against Hawkins as I believe it impossible to explain human consciousness in physicalist (you are your brain, matter is all there is) terms.  Our language will not even permit it.  For instance the book is filled with discussions about how sensory signals enter various portions of our cortex and then give "you" an experience of sight, hearing etc.  The brain is there, but even in talking about this Hawkins maintains a "you" as well.  Perhaps our brains cannot talk about themselves in a way that is consident with there being "nobody in there." Of course it is a philosophical and religious matter to state you are only a brain and nothing more.  But it seems to me that my brain processes and presents "to me" sights, sounds, etc. Also how "new thoughts" emerge from Hawkins empirical physicalism remains a mystery to me as it seems he is reduced to a framework where no thought can be thought of as such.

With that said, Hawkins book was a fascinating read that I greatly enjoyed.  It seems that Hawkins is passionately interested in the subject and has even founded a company to research application of these ideas. He believes that within our life time (if we give up on the dead end of AI) we may just create intelligent machines that are aware and thinking in the sensory environment of the world.  Or...perhaps a large network of computers simply "becomes" aware on a certain date...like SkyNet of Terminator lore. Or perhaps such a network of computers is already in place organizing all of the world's information.  Or maybe there is just Google - the company that "does no evil" but seems happy for its computers to know everything about all of us. 

Planet Google - One Companies Audacious Plans to Organize Everything we Know by Randall Stross, 2008 Free Press.

Planet Google is a recent book written by author and New York Times journalist Randall Stross.  There are several books about Google which have been written.  Some works, like The Google Story, focused on the founding and expansion of Google from the early days of Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Standford University.  Stross' book takes a more recent tact focusing primarily on Google's forays toward its goals of organizing all the worlds information. I really enjoy technology and reading about the companies which create it.  This book was no exception. 

Particularly enjoyable was the treatment of Google's moves into new territory such as book scanning and video.  The chapter on video is interesting for its history on YouTube which was going to become a very famous Google acquisition. I also enjoyed discussion of Google's move from search Goliath into a company which desires to usher in a new era of cloud computing whereby you allow Google to host all your e-mail, documents and digital history on its computers rather than your own.  

Finally, the brief and non technical view of Google data centers (dark, mostly unmanned and automated rooms full of pulsating computers and voracious appetite for electricity) was quite interesting indeed.  How many Google computers does it take to organize the world's information?  Many more than the amount of pro wrestlers needed to change a light bulb.  Will Google become "the man" or "big brother"?  Time will tell I suppose...but I for one do not trust a company whose motta is "do no evil" yet is run by mere human beings.  Afterall, when the chief executive googler, Eric Schmidt, was asked what was "evil" the reply was simply: Whatever Sergey says is evil.  (see 2003 Wired Mag piece Google vs. Evil) Unless Sergey=God...which I am pretty sure that equation is false...I am just going to be crazy and guess that Google may be doing some evil along way. 

Great book though - recommended.

Book Review - There is a God by Anthony Flew and Roy Varghese

Book Review - Anthony Flew, There is No/A God - How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, (New York: HarperOne, 2007) 222 pp.

People love testimonies; we also love reading biography.  Particularly we really love stories of how someone’s life or ideas radically change from their previous orientation.  For those who have been interested in the analytic philosophy of religion over certainly had their eyebrows raised when Anthony Flew, one of the prominent anti-theistic philosophers of the last half century, announced in 2004 that he had changed his mind on a very important issue.  He had come to believe in God.

There is No/A God - How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind is the recounting of the life and intellectual journey of Anthony Flew, written in a rather autobiographical manner by the man himself.  The book has a great introduction where Flew lays out the content of the book and the journey it will entail.  Part I is comprised of three chapters chronicling his experience growing up in the house of his Father, a thoughtful Methodist minister and biblical scholar.  It traces his growing interest in critical thinking and following a method put forth in the writing of Plato; like Socrates, he would be dedicated to following the evidence in life wherever it leads.  His development as a student, his growth as a philosopher and his profound and influential contributions to the philosophy of religion are all covered in this section.  It is not an understatement to say that Flew’s work literally set the stage for the last 60 years of discussion from the point of view of those who disbelieved in God.   

Part II of the book covers several lines of evidence, mainly located in the new discoveries of modern science, which brought him to his new conclusion that God exists.  The book concludes with two useful appendices, one on existential reasons for belief in a divine mind by Roy Abraham Varghese and the second a treatment by NT Wright on the historical Christian view of God revealing himself in Jesus Christ.  In this review I will cover some strengths of the book categorizing them under the headers of Biography, History, Philosophy and Science.  I will then cover a few small weakness I found with this volume and then give some concluding thoughts on the helpfulness (or lack thereof) of a book of this sort.

One more issue needs to be addressed before launching into the review.  As one can imagine the book has been surrounded by some vitriol and controversy.  On the atheistic side you read a recounting of a senile old man being duped by eager evangelicals to see things their way (See Mark Oppenheimer’s lengthy treatment in the New York Times Magazine for a good look at this).  On the theistic side you see a heartfelt narrative of friendship and the honest intellectual journey (see Christian philosopher Gary Habermas’ thoughts in his book review here) of an intellectually honest scholar and gentlemen.  What is the truth of the matter?  One is hard pressed to know.  The book’s publisher, HarperOne, is standing fully behind the book and that Flew, although assisted in its writing, stood fully behind it content.  The bottom line is that Anthony Flew’s journey is now deeply affected by dementia - in his last years his mind is fading.  So we have two sides to this story and many have much to gain from it.  The truth of all matters may not be known but clearly Anthony Flew did indeed change his mind and it is a process that began decades ago.  I’ll let the reader sort through the realities of this controversy - but as always, there are two sides to every story and these two sides are philosophers debating God - a virtual bee hive of passion, erudition and arrogance.  The full truth about the story of Anthony Flew may only be known in the Divine Mind, yet the book is out in the world with his name fully behind it.  So on to the review.

Strengths of the Book

Biography

Some of the most pleasant portions of the book were the human contours on display of Flew’s own life and intellectual journey.  The beginning pages feature Flew as a young boarding school student using the intellectual tools given to him by his critical thinking Christian father.  He clearly said the tools which his father gave him were those which turned him away from his father’s faith.   He is very clear that by the time he left boarding school he had left belief in God behind.  He attempted to keep it on the down low for several years and seemed to succeed but by the time his parents were aware of the change he was far down an anti-theistic road.  One story that really grabbed me was his experience in pre World War II Europe and his witness of harsh Antisemitism and the rise of totalitarianism; two things which were the object of his disdain.  Rightly so.   Overall, I enjoyed reading his story as life and philosophical career unfolded.  It is quite a who’s who in 20th century philosophy and that history seemed alive to me and leads me to the second strength I enjoyed in the book.

History

For those interested in the history of 20^th century philosophy will not find a historical introduction or tour de force in this volume.  Yet those who are acquainted with the history of philosophy will love the narrative found in Part I of the book.  From his membership and participation in CS Lewis’ Socratic club (22-24) at Oxford where theist and atheist would enter into cage matches together to his publishing of his early paper Theology and Falsification which would set the tone of late 20th century debates in analytic philosophy of religion.  Wittgenstein, AJ Ayer and logical positivism, Bertrand Russell, Richard Swinburne, Alvin Plantinga and many others are discussed in the narrative.  Those uninitiated with philosophical schools and ideas may feel a bit left out but those familiar will find much in the narrative to wax nostalgic about.  There is even Flew’s recounting of several debates over the decades with various theists even one that is positioned as a team debate showdown at the OK Corral (69, 70)

Philosophy

Now this book is written at a popular and not a technical level of philosophy. Yet the volume still affords some helpful insights which are found more fully in other works.  For instance, the discussion on the burden of proof in the question of God (who has to prove her claims, the theist or the agnostic?) is helpful.  Flew is well known for placing the burden of proof on the one who believes in God in the mid 20th century. This provoked some really excellent scholarship and discussion about who must prove what in order to be rational.  The work of Alvin Plantinga, in his discussions of Warrant and Proper Function, come to mind.  Plantinga argues that it is completely rational and basic to believe in God without proof save that the person is willing to address rational challenges to faith (defeater beliefs).  There is also a great quote summarizing the work of Anthony Kenny which puts the agnostic back in the debate to argue FOR something and not just put the burden on the theist. 

But he said this does not let agnostics off the hook; a candidate for an examination may be able to justify the claim that he or she does not know the answer to one of the questions, but this does not enable the person to pass the examination. (54, emphasis mine)

So the agnostic must also argue his case and attempt to show reasons why he knows that others do not know about the issue of God.  I have always been amazed by people who confidently think that others do not know about God, while claiming they do not personally know either.

There is also a discussion of Hume that philosophically minded people will enjoy even if you do not agree with the conclusions made.  I tend to agree with the book that Hume’s skepticism about causation, the reality of the external world and the persistent self are all unlivable intellectual games that Hume himself did not adhere.

Science

The final strength I found in the book was the basic and popular treatment of some scientific developments of the 20th century.  Schroeder’s refutation of the popular illustration that “if you give monkeys a typewriter and enough time they will eventually bang out the works of Shakespeare” to be wonderfully persuasive (see pages 74-78). Additionally, Chapter 7’s treatment of codes, DNA information transfer and mapping was very engaging.  The treatment of self directed, self replicating and encoded biological systems does seem to create massive problems if it is only the work of mindless matter. 

While I really enjoyed the book there were a few drawbacks which did seem to leer out at me as well.  I’ll cover them briefly in this order. First, the denseness of some philosophical ideas was not ameliorated for the popular level reader. Second, his distinction between physical and human causes in wrestling with determinism brought up some serious problems for me.  Third, a few chapters in the latter part of the book were just anemic and underdeveloped.  I’ll cover each in turn.

A Few Weaknesses

The Philosophical Shroud

As a book written for a popular audience I found a few times some dense stuff that philosophers enjoy left dangling before the reader in a rather obfuscated manner.  One quick beauty from Richard Swinburne will illustrate nicely why freshman in college can end up hating philosophy (or loving it - smile)

He reasoned that the fact that only O’s we have ever seen are X does not simply imply that it is not coherent to suppose that there are O’s that are not X.  He said that no one has any business arguing that, just because all so-and-so’s with which they happen themselves to have been acquainted were such-and-such, therefore such-and-suchness must be an essential characteristic of anything that is to be properly related to a so-and-so. (51)

Yeah, sometimes philosophy rolls that way…and it is a good point if you take the time to think it through…but most folks will read that and become cross-eyed and wonder what is the point.

Causality Confusion

A second area of weakness was his bifurcation of causes presented in his wrestling with the idea of free-will and determinism.  A little background.  Most all atheists are determinists.  They see the world as a closed system of cause and effect which is the result of matter operating according to natural law.  All things we see are the result of matter interacting.  This includes human actions, thoughts, decisions etc. Therefore free-will, in this view, is an illusion for it is just the bumping of matter in specialized patterns in your brain.  Of course this is very counter intuitive as we make a myriad of choices every day whereby we can “choose” action A or B.  Flew’s solution was to make a distinction between physical causes and human causes.  Physical causes are those that must happen according to natural laws and physics and human choices are a different sort of agent caused events which do not necessitate A or B but rather incline a person towards a choice (see 60,61)

Now, I have no problem in distinguishing causes this way but one who rejects a spiritual view of persons, that we are only one substance/matter, have a hard time finding where to get such “agents” from.  If there is nothing but a body/brain, then there is nothing else happening.  There is no metaphysical “YOU” who can make choices (whether free choices or those compatible with other factors).  Later in the book he indeed repudiates the type of mind/body anthropology which would make his cause distinction possible (see 150).  So I found his rejection of materialistic determinism to be weak in light of his physicalist anthropology.  Now for those who maintain a psychosomatic soul-body dualism do have a embodied person who can make choices.  For those who do not hold this view, such causal distinctions are nonsense and determinism seems to hold.

Less than Strong Chapters

Finally, I found chapter 6 of the anthropic principle to be underdeveloped and chapter 9 on how a incorporeal spirit can act in the world unsatisfying. The latter would have been greatly aided by a discussion of speech acts, how an agent actually accomplishes things by speaking and decreeing which to me seems to be how God immediately acts within space time.  Speech Act theory is of great interest as we see it in human affairs in the act of declaring a party guilty or pronouncing a couple husband and wife.  Though God’s speech acts are of a different species in that they actually do things that are “godlike” create matter, raise the dead etc. studies in speech act theory give us an understanding how God might accomplish things by his Word.

Concluding Thoughts

In conclusion I will say only a few things.  First, I really enjoyed the subject matter, history and discussions found in There is a God.  Second, my question is whether the controversy surrounding the volume make it useful as an apologetic for God with the general public.  My answer is yes and no.  Those who are from the camp of philosophical atheism, those who read Skeptic magazine and have read Flew’s previous works as gospel, will be unmoved by this book.  Yet for those who do not believe “the old senile Flew was duped by theists” story the volume is very helpful in showing that some people do change their minds and find good reasons to do so.  So with that in mind I do recommend There is a God for use with those who are wrestling with the question of God. Recommended.

Death by Love

ReLit/Crossway will be publishing a second book from Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears.  The book is titled Death by Love and is a treatment of the scope and breadth of Christ's work on the cross for us.  ReLit just launched a new web site to feature the book and it is extremely well done.  There is a fantastic video (see embed below, or larger video on their site) some sick graphic art to download, a sample chapter in a nice flash reader, as well as a page on Facebook. 

This book will be a work in theology and practical ministry as it focuses on various aspects of Jesus death on the cross applied practically to the stories of real people.  I look forward to having this one on our book table once we get launched out with Jacob's Well next year.

The Devil's Delusion - A Refreshing and Witty Polemic

David Berlinski, The Devil's Delusion - Atheism and Its Scientific Pretentions (New York: Crown Forum, 2008)

Introduction

Every now and again I come across books which do two things.  They provide great food for thought and they make me laugh out loud.  It is a very rare convergence of events but nonetheless there are some authors out there which succeed at uniting the horns of thought and humor in my life. This summer I just finished reading one such book, one The Devils Delusion - Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions by David Berlinski.  For those of you who are not familiar with him Berlinski is a sort of rogue academic who is involved with the work of the Discovery Institute (shhh...they are involved with intelligent design...shhh). Slate recently did an interesting piece on him if you want some background on the man described in that article as "a critic, a contrarian, and—by his own admission—a crank"

He holds a PhD in Philosophy from Princeton has taught at numerous institutions of higher learning and has published books on Mathematics and the history of science.  He is a bit of a rogue because he is a skeptical secular Jew who most recently has been writing against the overconfident reach of the the Darwinian establishment.  He also is an American academic who lives in Paris...which seems to point to "rogue."  I don't think he is too much of a troublemaker but he is a bit punchy and mischievous in his writings.

The book is another work which addresses the arguments of militant (perhaps obnoxious?) atheists such as Sam Harris, Daniel Dennet and the now infamous Richard Dawkins (aka Dick to the Dawk). This book, however, has a particular idea in its cross hairs; the idea that only atheism can lay claim to being "scientific" as well as some of the more ridiculous things atheistic thinkers claim in the "name of science." It seems that the likes of the new atheist posse have big love for him as well.  From Slate:

The atheists, meanwhile, can't stand him: According to Daniel Dennett, Berlinski exudes a "rich comic patina of smug miseducation"; Richard Dawkins implies that he may be wicked to the core; and blogger-ringleader P.Z. Myers has called him a "pompous pimple" and a "supercilious snot." 

How nice of these fellows! In reading this book I can see why they might find Berlinski a bit maddening.  For one, he is spooky smart, erudite, irreverent towards their cause and quite pithy in his deconstruction of their cherished religion of scientism. Quite frankly, I have found Berlinski to be quite adept at the lost art of polemics.  With a society that is either too squeamish to oppose any ideas or is so ridiculously uncivil in dealing with opponents, a nice intelligent polemicist is a treat to read. 

In this review I will summarize the book's argument using many of Berlinski's own words.  I will then share some of the things I enjoyed in Berlinski's book as well as few times where I felt him just a little bit unfair - well, ok, maybe only one time.  I also have a few questions for Dr. Berlinski which I will ask here in closing.

Summary

In beginning his book, Berlinski provides a great preface that summarizes succinctly his aims in writing.  He quite frankly wants to call the scientific hegemony on its bluff - that it, and it alone can answer all of life's questions...if given enough time of course. In addition, he wants to dismantle the belief that religion is bankrupt as a system of understanding things which science seems hopelessly empty in addressing.  In his own words:

No scientific theory touches on the mysteries that the religious tradition addresses.  A man asking why his days are short is not disposed to turn to algebraic quantum field theory for the answer.  The answers that prominent scientific figures have offered are remarkable in their shallowness.  The hypothesis that we are nothing more than cosmic accidents has been widely accepted by the scientific community.  Figures as diverse as Bertrand Russell, Jacques Monod, Steven Weinberg, and Richard Dawkins have said it is so.  It is an article of their faith, one advanced with the confidence of men convinced that nature has equipped them to face realities the rest of us cannot bear to contemplate.  There is not the slightest reason to think this so.

While science has nothing of value to say on the great and aching questions of life, death, love, and meaning, what the religious traditions of mankind have said forms a coherant body of thought. The yearnings of the human soul are not in vain.  There is a system of belief adequate to the complexity of experience.  There is recompense for suffering.  A principle beyond selfishness is at work in the cosmos.  All will be well.

I do not know whether any of this is true.  I am certain that the scientific community does not know that it is false. (Berlinski, xiv)

So Berlinski's task is simple - show that science is full of itself and overstates its case against religion all the while making some pretty impressive leaps of faith of its own.  The book covers a diverse range of topics from philosophical arguments for God from Thomas Aquinas and others, to a rebuttal of Richard Dawkins' sophomoric argument against God's existence related to "complex entities", to some dense chapters on the standard model of quantum physics and the infinitely inventive purveyors of string theory.

I found Berlinski to be quite well read on the subjects he treats and seemed to skip around within them with both a feeling of delight and ironic skepticism.  Now on to a few things that I really found enjoyable in the book.

Enjoyable

I found many things enjoyable in The Devil's Delusion the first being his calling the almost infinite arrogance of certain thinkers to account. In recounting the words of chemist Peter Atkins, Berlinski exposes this posture: 

Peter Atkins is a professor of physical chemistry at Oxford, and he, too, is ardent in his atheism. In the course of an essay denouncing not only theology but poetry and philosophy as well, he observes favorably of himself that scientists "are the summit of knowledge, beacons of rationality, and intellectually honest." It goes without saying, Atkins adds, that "there is no reason to suppose that science cannot deal with every aspect of existence." Science is, after all, "the apotheosis of the intellect and the consummation of the Renaissance." (7)

So much for that old fashioned human virtue known as humility. Additionally, he exposes the way that some scientists (after all, Berlinski is quite the fan of science) present their views as the only admissible discussion in any human affairs.  What Berlinski has found in reading the literature of science is that some men have created a new religion and one that demands all people submit to its tenants of the faith.  Again and again he shows that many times science has attempted to flee from certain ideas (such as design, God, morality, human uniqueness in the universe, big bang cosmology, etc) by cooking up strange explanations to avoid the obvious.

The second enjoyable aspect of the book is that it is extremely funny.  Now, I will say that you might need a bit of a background in the sciences to understand just how funny some of his prose actually is...but nonetheless the humor is transparent enough in most places for even the uninitiated reader.  Let me just drop some of his lines in for your enjoyment as well...

On the fact that "religion is the source of all violence and carnage" Berlinski has this to say:

It is religion, Christopher Hitchens claims, that is dangerous, because it is "the cause of dangerous sexual repression." Short of gender insensitivity, what could be more dangerous than sexual repression? (18)

In the same chapter, he brings one of the more blunt uses of humor when speaking of the heinous atrocities invented by atheistic thinkers and certain creations of modern scientific understanding. This was in some commentary he made on the words of physicist Steven Weinberg:

"Religion," he affirmed, "is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things.  But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion (italics added by Berlinski) In speaking thus, Weinburg was warmly applauded, not one member of his audience asking the question one might have thought pertinent: Just who has imposed on the suffering of the human race poison gas, barbed wire, high explosives, experiments in eugenics, the forumula for Zyklon B, heavy artillary, pseudo-scientific justification for mass murder, cluster bombs, attack submarines, napalm, intercontinental ballistic missiles, military space platforms, and nuclear weapons? If memory serves, it was not the Vatican. (21)

Touche! If you are interested in a few more pithy quotes click the "continue reading" link at the end of this review. So let me move on to my final enjoyable aspect of the book; his exposing of the naive positions of the likes of one Sam Harris.

Harris has the habit of reducing things to simple rants and platitudes.  A quick reading of his "letter to a Christian nation" will suffice to show that he does not treat serious subjects with much rigor.  Perhaps he is just writing out of field and we need to show him charity.  Yet Berlinski is right to call him on much hot air.  One example is the atheistic treatment of human sin and behavior.  It is quite common for Harris and the like to present smart people as good people and that if we only could get rid of religion all people would live in perfect harmony.  Here is Berlinski calling them on this nonsense:

I am under most circumstances the last person on earth to think Richard Dawkins a Pollyanna, but in this case I defer to his description.  Why should people remain good when unobserved and unpoliced by God? Do people remain good when unpoliced by the police? If Dawkins believes that they do, he must explain the existence of the criminal law, and if he believes that they do not, then he must explain why moral enforcement is not needed at the place where law enforcement ends.

To the scientific atheists, the ancient idea that homo homini lupus--man is a wolf to man--leaves them shaking their heads in poodle-like perplexity.  Sam Harris has no anxieties whatsoever about presenting his own views on human morality with the enviable confidence of a man who feels that he has reached the epistemological bottom.  "Everything about human experienc," he writes, "suggests that love is more conductive to human happiness than hate is." It goes without saying, of course, that Harris believes that this is an objective claim about the human mind.  

If this is so, it is astonishing with what eagerness men have traditionally fled happiness. (34, emphasis in original)

Yes, human beings are more complicated than simply thinking we will all do right and good with one another once we have studied brain and biology. Some of the smugness and confidence of these men is amazing in light of the 20th century carnage brought about by atheistic regines (Stalin, Mao, Khamir Rouge).  It needs to be called out.

One finanl chapter is worthy of note. Chapter 8 - Our Inner Ape, a Darling and the Human Mind does a masterful job and explaining and demonstrating the actual difference between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom.  The chapter is worth the price of admission and is a needed argument in light of the atheistic mantra than human beings are nothing special in the universe.  I tell my own kids that you don't see alligators, or chimps for that matter, launching a mission to Mars.  The difference between man and ape is massive and Berlinski gives a great treatment of this subject.

Questions

Now, there are a few problems with the book and a puzzle I find in Berlinski himself.  First, there are a few places that he seems a bit unfair to his opponents.  Now, I know, Sam Harris is a big boy and can take it but it does seem he gets thrown into a bit of a guilt by association argument in aligning him with holocaust denying David Irving. Though Harris' views that the Jewish people's beliefs and actions could have brought on their suffering, making him an ally of source with Irving seemed a bit unfair (see Berlinski, 28). 

Finally I have one question for Dr. Berlinski.  Why don't you go ahead and leave the skeptical place in your views about God and come on over to the team.  He defends theism masterfully, seems to understand the biblical message and spent quite a bit of time in the book making a pretty good case for the theistic arguments.  There is a place for skepticism, in seeing through things.  But as CS Lewis once said, if you see through everything you lose your ability to see.  So I hope Dr. Berlinski would accept that which he seems to have some good knowledge thereof.  That there is a God, who created us in his image, who orders the moral universe and to whom we will give an account. 

Conclusion

Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit.  I particularly enjoyed the discussions of various scientific theories as I still remain a huge fan of the scientific enterprise.  This is no anti-science book, but rather a book which will not allow the smuggling of atheistic philosophy into the room by putting a lab coat on its back.  Science is the empirical study of repeatable causes, it is not the sum of all knowledge and human experience.  All of us have some sort of faith commitment from which they launch into daily life. Some trust in the creator, others trust that they themselves will solve every problem and explain away all spiritual reality and every mystery when science is given enough time.  I find such an existence absurd and quite boring.  Science from a theistic perspective is quite fascinating and I commend the young minds of the world to take up science and give glory to God.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix - A few More Berlinski Zingers.

In speaking of the confidence some have in certain quantum mechanical theories, Berlinski again is a bit of a meddler:

It has not, however, explained the connection between the quantum realm and the classical realm. "So long as the wave packet reduction is an essential component [of quantum mechanics]," the physicist John Bell observed, "and so long as we do not know when and how it takes over from the Schrodinger equation, we do not have an exact and unambiguous formulation of our most fundamental physical theory."

If this is so, why is our most fundamental theory fundamental? I'm just asking. (94)

In sticking with the "science functioning for some as a religion" Berlinski actually produces a "Catechism of Quantum Cosmology" which I found ridiculous and wonderful.  Just so you can catechize your own children (found on pp 104, 105)

Q: From what did our universe evolve?
A: Our universe evolved from a much smaller, much emptier, mini-universe. You may think of it as an egg

Q: What was the smaller, emptier universe like?
A: It was a four-dimensional sphere with nothing much inside it. You may think of that as weird

Q: How can a sphere have four dimensions?
A: Asphere may have four dimensions if it has one more dimension than a three-dimensional sphere.  You may think of that as obvious

Q: Does the smaller, emptier universe have a name?
A: The smaller, emptier universe is called a de Sitter universe. You may think of that as about time some one paid attention to de Sitter.

Q: Is there anything else I should know about the smaller, emptier universe?
A: Yes. It represents a solution to Einstein's field equations. You may think of that as a good thing.

Q: Where was the smaller, emptier universe or egg?
A: It was in the place where space as we know it did not exists. You may think of it as a sac.

Q: When was it there?
A: It was there at the time when time as we know it did not exist. You may think of it as a mystery

Q: Where di teh egg come from?
A: The egg did not actually come from anywhere. You may think of this as astonishing.

Q: If the egg did not come from anywhere, how did it get there?
A: The egg got there because the wave function of the universe said it was probable.  You may think of this as a done deal.

Q: How did our universe evolve from the egg?
A: It evolved by inflating itself up from its sac to become the universe in which we now find ourselves.  You may think of that as just one of those things.

Now you are ready to sing the hymns of the new world order and your kids can report for confirmation.  He is not trying to make light of the hard work of theoretical physicists, bu the is saying that they appear to be saying a bit of nothing disguised in mathematical flair that has no experimental connection to the observational world...and it is funny.  Let me close this section with his quote about the continued and multiplied musings of string theory.

In the end, string theorists argued that the extra dimensions of their theory were buried somewhere. At each point in space and time, they conjectured, there one would find a tiny geometrical object know as a Calabi-Yau manifold, and curled up within, there one would find the extra dimensions of string theory itself.  It was an idea that possessed every advantage except clarity, elegance, and a demonstrated connection to reality. (119, empahis in original)

Ok, I must have a weird sense of humor because once again I had a chuckle at those lines.