Tag Archives: American Studies

Why We Are Not Emergent by Two Guys Who Should Be by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

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Synopsis:
An overview of the emerging church movement from two critics, a pastor and a sportswriter.

Review:
I have been a fan of Kevin DeYoung for a while based on his appearances on the White Horse Inn, a favorite podcast of mine. And my interest in the emergent movement stems from my days as Managing Editor for a now defunct webzine covering Christianity and culture. I was there when Relevant Magazine launched and when The Ooze had only a few members. We were one of the first to publish a critic of Brian McLaren. I wish I could link but we had no funds to keep our archive up and running.

I loved Why We’re Not Emergent as much for what it taught me about historical Christianity as for its critique of the emergent movement, which I believe will die out as a fad. Many of its critics worry that its passing will leave many bereft and alienated from Christianity, but I think that historical Christianity, rooted as it is in the gospel and the Holy Spirit, will win many back with the truth. All the same, I am angered by these false prophets who distort God’s good word in the name of a “love” that is ultimately empty and death-dealing. I loved how the book ends with an exposition of the letters to the churches in the book of Revelations, calling all Christians on all sides to repentance. They make sure to take seriously those critiques of the emergent church that hit the mark in a spirit of real humility–as opposed to the false humility that the emergent voices espouse.

Big Machine by Victor LaValle

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Synopsis:
A brokedown junkie, ex-cultist and mass murder survivor gets a mysterious invitation to become an Unlikely Scholar investigating odd phenomena across America.

Review:
Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Big Machine rocked my world. Stylistically, it’s a mash-up of Haruki Murakami and Stephen King, with a bit of Ralph Ellison for good measure.

When junkie Ricky Rice becomes an Unlikely Scholar under way mysterious circumstances, he finds himself scouring newspapers for stories that give evidence to The Voice. His journey grows ever more wild, and as he travels across the country from Vermont to northern California on the trail of the Voice and something more human and more ominous, he reflects back on the journey that got him to this point. His childhood in a cult, his years as a junkie and petty criminal, and his efforts to stay on the straight and narrow become more than just a life story. It’s a Pilgrim’s Progress founded on doubt–but a doubt that might be stronger than the faith of some.

LaValle has a lot to say about American fanaticism of all stripes. The social commentary here is fascinating, specific, and outrageously funny. Ricky Rice will become one of my favorite characters for the unique voice LaValle gives him, at once guileless and sneaky, wise and foolish, a street smart risk taker who has survived way too much.

The story is wild beyond imagining, with horror elements that don’t hold back. LaValle is not genre-slumming here. He genuinely wants to freak us out.

I was fortunate enough to hear LaValle read a large chunk of the opening of this book, and I was hooked. Definitely planning to read more of his work.

In Cheap We Trust by Lauren Weber

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Synopsis:
A history of thrift in American culture.

Review:
While the history that comprises most of In Cheap We Trust was well-researched and presented, I really wanted a lot more present-day analysis. I really appreciated the chapter on the greenwashing of consumption, and how buying secondhand is, in many ways, a lot more eco friendly than buying something brand new even if it’s made sustainably. I was also hoping for a lot more practical suggestions for being thriftier, but I was just mistaken about what kind of book this was going to be, and that’s my problem, not the book’s!

What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell

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Synopsis:
A collection of essays written by Gladwell and published in the New Yorker.

Review:
Bite-sized is how I like Malcolm Gladwell, and What the Dog Saw contains some of Gladwell’s most memorable essays. His profile of Ron Popeil, creator of the Showtime Rotisserie, stands as one of the finest pieces of writing I’ve ever encountered, and this past spring I assigned it to my writing students, who were suitably enthralled. Gladwell gives you the greatness behind the showman veneer, as well as some of the pathos inherent in selling things on TV.

Another essay that gets me every time is the ketchup piece. Gladwell attempts to explain the conundrum whereby there are numerous kinds of mustard, but only one kind of ketchup, despite the efforts of Popeil-wannabes in creating artisanal blends. He connects ketchup’s potency to its near perfect blend of all five tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami, taking stops along the way to discuss the problems with supermarket cola and the history of Grey Poupon.

The third essay I love combines the profile prowess of the Ron Popeil piece with the historical exegesis of the ketchup piece, and that’s the one about hair color. The woman in the profile is a real-life version of Peggy from “Mad Men,” only with far more moxie and determination and self-awareness. I’m hoping the publication of this book will tip off Matthew Weiner to yet another awesome kind of woman he could include in his already awesome show.

Many thanks to the kind folks at Little, Brown and Hachette Book Group for the advance review copy.

Jesus and Justice by Peter Goodwin Hetzel

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Synopsis:
Subtitled “Evangelicals, Race, and American Politics,” an overview of the history of 20th-21st century evangelicalism as it moved from ignoring race to embracing the Christology of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Review:
In Jesus and Justice, author Peter Goodwin Hetzel writes an incredibly detailed history of Focus on the Family, Sojourners, and the National Association of Evangelicals, among others. He also presents a thorough examination of Martin Luther King Jr.’s theology, which was a topic I’d never really explored before. I knew that King was a gifted speaker, but I didn’t realize the extent to which he was a deep intellectual and theologian. In doing so, Hetzel aims to awaken modern white evangelicals to the necessity of embracing the legacy of black evangelicalism in order to effect real change in the world. He writes:

It is what is specifically Christian within black evangelicalism that can help a white evangelical modernity break out of its whiteness and its modernism circumscribed by racial and colonial logics. And insofar as black and white evangelicalism do not make this break, insofar as evangelicals modernity’s racial imagination cannot be perforated and displaced by the fullness of the reality of Jesus of Nazareth, who is the bearer of God’s covenant with the people of Israel, to that same extent such interrogations of black Christianity and evangelicalism remain trapped within, not liberated from, the colonial gaze.

Earlier, he cites the individualism endemic in most evangelical theology as the greatest hindrance to widespread evangelical engagement with larger cultural issues like race, class, and stewardship of the earth. I agree wholeheartedly with his critique, even though I’m lukewarm towards Sojourners, the group he sees as most embodying the new evangelicalism. Hetzel’s book reminds me most of Paul’s exhortation to the Colossians not to allow their own cultural distinctions to supersede their identity as Christians. I believe he offers a great roadmap to those American Christians who wish to bridge the racial divide in a way that pays fitting tribute to the tragedies and triumphs of America’s racial history.

But because my recent reading of Christless Christianity is so fresh in my mind, I can’t get past Michael Horton’s evisceration of the works-oriented theology at the heart of Jim Wallis’s emphasis on “deeds, not creeds.” Horton convincingly argues that the church is not called to “live the gospel” but rather to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments. Jesus is not someone that we are to emulate; rather, he is the Savior we are to worship.

Hetzel’s picture of Sojourners is quite different from Horton’s, and I get the feeling that the reason might be theological–Calvinist vs. Wesleyan, perhaps? Honestly, I think they’re both right–if Calvinism works the way the Reformed say it does, and if Sojourners’s mission is what Hetzel says it is. And the book makes it clear that Hetzel’s vision is about so much more than just “WWJD.” I would love to see his vision come true.

The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome by John F. Wasik

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Synopsis:
Subtitled “Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream,” this book analyzes the housing crisis and reflects upon ways that America can move forward with affordable, environmentally sustainable architecture.

Review:
The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome is a good companion piece to James Howard Kunstler’s A Geography of Nowhere. Author John F. Wasik offers a cogent overview of the current housing crisis along with an analysis of the unsustainability of the current fads in American housing. He explains trends in environmentally conscious architecture and building, and offers his ideas about what it will take to put the American dream back to rights.

I was most interested by his discussion of “spurbs,” housing clusters that are not connected to a metropolitan area, offer no public transportation, are not walkable, and are interspersed with strip malls and shopping centers. I grew up in a suburb of Baltimore and now I live in Queens, NY, so I’m not intimately familiar with these areas. They sound like nowhere I’d want to live. I love what I read about the New Urbanism, one of whose central tenets is “get people outside.” I love that I can walk everywhere–sure, it’s a 30 minute walk to the park but that’s great exercise, and it’s so fun to bump into people I know along the way.

Christless Christianity by Michael Horton

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Synopsis:
An examination and critique of the current state of Christianity in America, which shows the pervasive influences of Pelagianism and Gnosticism–these heresies are closer than you think.

Review:
Michael Horton had me at “Joel Osteen.” I was blown away by the incisiveness of Christless Christianity, a stunning work that made me so, so thankful to be attending a church deeply rooted in Reformation orthopraxis.

The first section of the book deals with the prosperity gospel, looking at Osteen and others of his ilk who preach that God wants good things for you, but who never mention Jesus or the cross in any of their sermons. Horton shows that the “easy” road that these teachers proclaim is actually just another form of legalism. All you have to do to live the good life is to follow God and be a good person. God helps those who help themselves. The onus of salvation rests squarely on our shoulders. God does not come down to us; we build a stairway to him. This is Pelagianism, which says that we must play a part in our own redemption. The reformers (Calvin and Luther, etcetera) countered this heresy by preaching that salvation is by grace alone–we do nothing.

The second section of the book delves into the Emergent church and public spokesmen like Jim Wallis and Rick Warren, those who preach that churches are to take up where Jesus left off, and continue to redeem the world. This is the “living gospel” or “deed without creed.” Horton explains how these teachings betray Gnostic tendencies that elevate human beings above God.

Even more important in this section was Horton’s depiction of the church as a place where believers come to be served by God through the sacraments and the Word. Too often the modern church becomes another workplace, with believers encouraged to throw themselves into ministry. In fact, church itself is hardly necessary at all. Just go and “live the gospel.” The sacraments become “means of commitment” rather than “means of grace.” Here again, we find a legalistic gospel that says that our works are the most important thing in the salvation equation.

Horton emphatically states that believers need to receive the Word and the sacraments, out of which will flow worship and service. Too many churches get it the wrong way round, saying that we need to get our hearts right with God on our own. He writes,

The church has a very narrow commission. It is not called to be an alternative neighborhood, circle of friends, political action committee, or public service agency; it is called to deliver Christ so clearly and fully that believers are prepared to be salt and light in the worldly stations to which God has called them. Why should a person go through all the trouble of belonging to a church and showing up each Sunday if God is the passive receiver and we are the active giver?

…Not only once upon a time, on a hill far away, but each week the Son of God comes to serve us. We may protest. We may think that it is we who need to serve God rather than vice versa. Nevertheless, Jesus tells us as he told Peter that this is actually an insult, a form of pride. We are the ones who need to be bathed, clothed, and fed, not God.

…the main purpose of singing in church is not to express our inner experience, piety and zeal but to serve each other by making ‘the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16)… Pastors and teachers are not cruise director who provide venues for everyone to channel all of their gifts and energies to the church, but they are deliverers of the message of Christ.

So much good news here!

Our Babies, Ourselves by Meredith Small

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Synopsis:
An exploration of how parenting styles around the world bring into question our definition of normal infant behavior.

Review:
I was familiar already with a lot of the content of Our Babies, Ourselves, because Meredith Small’s findings crop up in a lot of literature on attachment parenting. However, it was still well worth reading because she delves so deeply into issues of evolution, natural selection, biology, and human development to demonstrate why parenting styles vary across cultural lines. She looks at tribes like the !Kung and the Ache, as well as urban cultures like the US and the Netherlands and shows the differing ways in which infants are cared for.

Small then builds a very compelling case that American parenting practices conflict with babies’ biological and evolutionary hardwiring in order to foster culturally important traits like independence. She sees a trade off, in that American babies reared in mainstream ways adapt and achieve desired independence, but tend to cry more than babies in other cultures that are more in tune with the natural rhythm of babies.

For a long time, I believed that all babies ate every four hours and needed to cry to fall asleep. This was because I spent years babysitting for formula-fed, sleep trained babies. It wasn’t until about 7 years ago that I began sitting for families whose babies were breastfed, and who coslept with their kids that I learned that there was another way to parent. Now I’m a mother who breastfeeds on demand with Superfast Baby in bed with me for most of the night. It’s so easy that way, and it was interesting to learn some biological and evolutionary reasons why it works so well.

The Starter Marriage by Pamela Paul

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Synopsis:
An overview of the recent phenomenon of marriages that end before they reach the five-year mark.

Review:
I hate books that never tell you more than what you read in the title. I generally enjoy books like this, as I’m keenly interested in human behavior and social trends, but this book really didn’t do it for me. I never felt like Paul’s interviewees came alive, and as a result I wasn’t sucked into the drama of their lives. I gave up on it 2/3 of the way through because I just do not have the time to spend with a book I don’t like right now.

The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe

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Synopsis:
3 young women meet in the typing pool at Fabian Publishing, 1952, hoping for love and finding that life has more to offer than they ever imagined.

Review:
I haven’t done much rereading since starting this blog, mostly thanks to the TBR tsunami that Bookmooch yielded out of a few boxes of discarded books my mom cleaned out of her house and sent to me. My reading life has been consumed by a tyranny of the new, but sometimes an old friend is just what I want. Continue reading →