cover image A Gathering of Memories: Family, Nation, and Church in a Forgetful World

A Gathering of Memories: Family, Nation, and Church in a Forgetful World

Charles R. Pinches, . . Brazos, $16.99 (172pp) ISBN 978-1-58743-104-3

Despite its possibly misleading title and cover, this is neither a collection of nostalgia nor a tribute to yesteryear. Rather, it is an extended theological essay on the meaning, value and function of memory as it operates in community. According to Pinches, a professor at the University of Scranton and author of Theology and Action , memories are made first within the family and then within the nation; they are given direction and redemption through the church. Individualism ranks low on the author's scale of values: "A key part of the church's job is to remind us that we don't matter half as much as we think we do." The church enables us to situate our personal memories in the larger context of Christian hope, "secured by the resurrection" and pointing "to the kingdom yet to come." For Pinches, memory is rooted in the physical world, bound by time and space and dependent on the human body. Appropriately, he develops his points less through argument than through story—Odysseus, King David, Oscar Romero and his father-in-law the flying ace. This reality base, along with his generally accessible style and occasional flashes of inspiration, will attract thoughtful readers beyond academia. (Mar.)