Sneak Peeks: Three Reviews Coming in PW on Monday, Oct. 13

-- Publishers Weekly, 10/8/2008

The Jewish Approach to Repairing the World: A Brief Introduction for Christians
Elliot N. Dorff with Cory Willson. Jewish Lights, $16.99 paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-58023-349-1

Dorff, a professor of philosophy at the American Jewish University, and Willson, a student of divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary, claim that Jews and Christians will better understand each other if they learn that both religions share the concern for tikkun olam, repairing the world. This debatable assertion enables them to cite Christian and Jewish sources in their effort to explain tikkun olam. They limit the term to social interactions and practices such as helping poor people, avoiding foul language and gossip, telling the truth (with exceptions), visiting the sick (and sitting down with them), comforting mourners and rejoicing with bridal couples. Within the family, harmonious relationships with spouses, parents, and children are deemed to be part of tikkun olam. Concern for the environment is not discussed in order to keep a strict focus on the human and social realm. This book usefully prescribes proper interpersonal relationships according to Judaism and Christianity. The tenuous relationship between this subject and the obligation to repair the world is, however, thinly presented. Dorff and Willson have given us a useful but limited book on human relationships. The yet-to-be written comprehensive book on tikkun olam awaits new authors and a fresh approach. (Dec.)

The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible
Scot Mcknight. Zondervan, $18.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-310-28488-8

Infused with common sense and seasoned with candor, the latest work from McKnight (The Jesus Creed), religious studies professor at North Park College, takes a stand in controversial territory by bravely asking the question: how is it that even Christians who claim to be led by an authoritative Bible read it so differently? In response, the author asserts that believers need to take a fresh look at how they adopt and adapt Scripture before they can read the Bible in a way that renews a living relationship with the God behind the sacred text. Using the analogy of a water slide, McKnight argues that the Gospel is the slide, the Bible and church tradition the walls that both protect and liberate the believer as he or she discerns how to apply Scripture as a living document. In the last section, McKnight tackles the controversial issue of women's role in church ministry in a way that is both scholarly and confessional, documenting his own journey alongside that of the apostle Paul and other biblical characters. Enriched by folksy anecdotes, this volume could be very useful for evangelical readers and any others wanting a safe place to ask the same bold questions. (Nov.)

The Masks of Christ: Behind the Lies and Cover-ups about the Life of Jesus
Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince. Touchstone, $16 paper (448p) ISBN 978-1-4165-3166-1

Picknett and Prince are the authors of controversial and provocative works, including The Templar Revelation and The Turin Shroud, that challenge popular assumptions and bring into question much of what many consider truth. In their newest volume, the authors strike boldly and unreservedly against what they see as the mythos that transformed the historical Jesus into a God, namely, the Christ. Studying the traditions and tensions that surrounded the early Christians and filtering these through the lens of skepticism, they create a picture that is both challenging and disturbing. If they are correct, then the Christ of today's Christianity is a corruption of the mission of the rabbi Jesus of Nazareth. In the end, they conclude that "it seems that even Jesus himself would once have agreed that Christians have been worshipping the wrong Christ for two millenia." Tough words. Readers will decide for themselves whether the authors prove their case. (Nov.)

You Saw It Here First: Three Original RBL Reviews

Why Walk When You Can Fly? Soar Beyond Your Fears and Love Yourself and Others Unconditionally
Isha. New World Library, $14.95 paper (152p) ISBN 978-1-57731-637-4

A native Australian who lives in Uruguay, Isha may be the Eckhart Tolle of South America, guru to the famous. She also works with prisoners and even ex-guerrilla soldiers in Colombia. The religion-free system she presents in this book, which borrows freely from Eastern wisdom teachings, is a series of meditations which she calls "facets"—parts of an "Isha system" designed to promote healing and well-being. Her system also includes such advice as exercise and drink water. None of this is objectionable; on the other hand, none of this is new, unless you haven't heard it before or need frequent reminders to be loving, peaceful, and accepting of vicissitudes. And all systems that ask a seeker to do a little mental work and become more disciplined have more, or fewer, grains of truth. These days many are attracted to spiritual systems that draw from but avoid explicit religion; here is another one that is simple to learn, but does require practice, practice, practice. (Nov. 15)

100 Ways to Simplify Your Life
Joyce Meyer. FaithWords, $16.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-446-19416-7

Television evangelist and bestselling author Meyer most certainly will appeal to her large fan base in this new title on honing one's ability to create a simpler, more streamlined life. Meyer offers readers 100 brief readings composed of pithy quotations, a Bible verse, and her homespun advice about living simply. Topics include learning to be content with what you have; letting go of the past; choosing quality over quantity; being quick to forgive; minding your own business; cultivating solitude; avoiding people who talk too much; resisting the devil; letting discipline be your friend; and trusting God to change you and others. Meyer knows her audience well and this resource will please them. Still, there are a number of subjects that read a bit redundantly, such as the essays on regularly re-evaluating commitments and defining personal priorities to name just two. This repetition of material may make readers wonder if Meyer was simply trying to fill her "100 ways" quota for the book. (Nov.)

The Best American Spiritual Writing 2008. Edited by Philip Zaleski, introduction by Jimmy Carter.
Houghton Mifflin, $28 cloth, $14 paper (256p) ISBN 978-0-618-83374-0 (cloth); -83375-7 (paper)

That editor Zaleski's annual anthology of the top spiritual writings has been around now for a decade testifies to the ways that spirituality continues to imbue our culture. Culled from over 20 periodicals, newspapers, and journals, these essays, poems, and personal reflections offer glimpses into spiritual longings, the mysteries of the quotidian, the sagacious teachings of great religious leaders, and the inscrutable relationship between science and religion. For example, poet and novelist David James Duncan hauntingly probes the spiritual dimensions of nature and the human destruction of nature in Lost River. In a funny and poignant story of being excluded by his Orthodox Jewish friends because of his Korean-American wife, Noah Feldman explores Orthodoxy's desire to inhabit multiple worlds simultaneously and to defy contradiction by co-existence. In the best piece in the collection, writer Paul Elie resurrects mid-twentieth-century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr's powerful moral realism as a means of confronting the social and political ills of American society, particularly the war in Iraq. As with all such collections, the contributions are uneven, but, overall, the volume shows forth our culture's continuing desire to find the spiritual in the midst of the everyday. (Oct.)

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