Four Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on Monday, June 9
-- Publishers Weekly, 6/4/2008
Knowing Right from Wrong: A Christian Guide to Conscience
Thomas D. Williams. FaithWords, $19.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-446-58201-8
Williams, a Catholic priest, ethicist and CBS News Vatican analyst, challenges the popular notion that conscience is always an inerrant guide in this thoughtful look at a timely topic. Proposing that conscience recognizes, but does not determine, good and evil, Williams dissects its role, showing how conscience is "formed" and can even be corrupted. Although he holds that conscience is deserving of respect as that place where a person is alone with God, he says it does not automatically respond correctly and is in need of training through prayer and moral education. Such instruction, he writes, is to be found in the Bible and natural law as well as in the teachings of the Catholic Church. Williams says consciences must be evaluated regularly and offers practical steps to conduct periodic self-tests. He deals with conscientious objection and its application as well. Readers willing to accept or consider the book's basis in Catholic teaching will find this to be an excellent guide for dealing with the panoply of moral choices presented by contemporary culture. (Sept. 18)
The Other Islam: Sufism and the Road to Global Harmony
Stephen Schwartz. Doubleday, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-385-51819-2
Schwartz, a journalist and convert to Islam, offers Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, as an aid to the United States's efforts to fight extremism. He provides an incomparable history of Sufism, covering in one short book all the major Sufi saints, schools, and the persecution of Sufis by Wahhabis. Deeply anti-Wahhabi, Schwartz encourages U.S. policymakers to ally with Sufis to undermine the Wahhabi influence. Schwartz believes the Wahhabi philosophy, which is literal and extreme in its interpretation of the Islamic faith, to be the motivation behind Muslim terrorism, with Wahhabi Saudis providing the financing. Wahhabis abhor Sufis for centuries-old traditions they label as idolatrous. Schwartz critiques the Western media for inaccurately dismissing Wahhabi attacks on Sufis, including the insurgency in Iraq, as Sunni-Shia disputes. In reality, Schwartz argues, they are part of the centuries-long Wahhabi campaign to destroy Sufism and moderate Islam. Schwartz's opinion—that Sufis are then the natural allies of the U.S. in the ongoing war on terror—is well presented and worth considering. (Sept. 16)
Welcome to the Revolution: A Field Guide for New Believers
Brian Tome. Thomas Nelson, $12.99 paper (240p) ISBN 978-0-8499-2005-9
Tome pastors a megachurch in Cincinnati that draws a large number of attendees unfamiliar with the Christian faith. As he was counseling new believers, he wanted to give them a guide to explain the Christian life and decided to write this book when he couldn't find anything appropriate. Tome doesn't get bogged down in difficult questions (e.g., "What happens to people who have never heard about Jesus?") but instead encourages readers to take the next step in their faith and address those questions over time. Chapters on basics like Bible reading and prayer will probably be most beneficial. As one would expect for this audience, Tome's advice is appealingly honest (i.e., some of the Bible will be boring and you won't like everything you read). Other chapters get a bit off focus, like the one on community, which recommends rating friends and spending more time with those who encourage you (sage advice, perhaps, but not necessarily the heart of Christian community). Letters from church attendees and new believers are a precious addition to the book. (Sept. 9)
Find Your Way Home: Words from the Street, Wisdom from the Heart
The Women of Magdalene with Becca Stevens. Abingdon, $10 paper (120p) ISBN 978-0-6876470
This little book begins with a brief introduction by Stevens, author of Sanctuary and founder of the remarkably successful Magdalene, a Nashville home for women overcoming drug abuse, prostitution and/or incarceration. Stevens describes the book as "an open letter written to friends and strangers, inviting them to keep love alive and to offer it others." In the spirit of the Rule of Benedict, the book articulates the 24 principles that guide the Magdalene community in its effort to live graciously together. Each principle is a tiny chapter, exploring themes like coming together, showing hospitality, losing gracefully and loving without judgment. Each principle is followed by a woman's personal recollection of life before Magdalene, her experience with the community, and sometimes advice or encouragement. Paradoxically, it is the particularity of these musings that evokes universality and brings the book alive. Even if readers do not share the history of abuse and extraordinary difficulties these women face, the rules and anecdotes speak to feelings of loss, the relief of love, and the comfort of finding home. (Sept.)
Two Starred Reviews Coming in PW on Monday, June 9:
Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life
Kathleen Norris. Riverhead, $25.95 (352p) ISBN 978-1-59448-996-9
In this penetrating theological memoir, Norris (The Cloister Walk) details her relationship with acedia, a slothful, soul-weary indifference long recognized by monastics. Norris is careful to distinguish acedia from its cousin, depression, noting that acedia is a failure of the will and can be dispelled by embracing faith and life, whereas depression is not a choice and often requires medical treatment. This is tricky ground, but Norris treads gingerly, reserving her acerbic crankiness for another section where she convincingly argues that despite Americans' apparently un-slothful lives, acedia is the undiagnosed neurasthenia of our busy age. Much of the book is taken up with Norris's account of her complicated but successful marriage, which ended with her husband's death in 2003. The energy poured into this marriage, Norris argues, was as much a defiant strike against acedia as was her spiritual discipline of praying the Psalms. Filled with gorgeous prose, generous quotations from Christian thinkers across the centuries, and fascinating etymological detours, this discomfiting book provides not just spiritual hope but a much-needed kick in the rear. (Sept. 16)
A Visual History of the Bible: The Tumultuous Tale of the World's Bestselling Book
Donald L. Brake. Baker, $29.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-8010-1316-4
Not unlike an epic story, the history of the formation and translation of the Bible is filled with intrigue and adventure, heroes and knaves. Considering how much ink has been spilled about the Bible's purported meanings, it's surprising how few authors have captured the excitement of its evolution from disparate manuscripts to accepted canon to bestselling book. Brake, who is president of Multnomah College and has a Ph.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary, takes the reader on a wonderful journey through several thousand years of history (though the heaviest emphasis is on the 15th century to the present), marking the people, events, and crises through which the Bible has had to pass, finally emerging in our time as a versatile and vital document. Nearly every page contains an illustration, chart or other visual aid to assist the reader. Refreshingly readable and lavishly illustrated, this volume is essential to anyone wanting to understand the Bible and its hazardous journey through the ages. (Sept. 15)
