Four Reviews Coming in Publishers Weekly on July 23
Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible’s Harlot QueenLesley Hazleton. Doubleday, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-385-51614-3
Like other villains of the Bible, Jezebel, it turns out, may have been gravely mischaracterized throughout history. Unlike Judas, of whom there are alternative, rehabilitative stories, the only historical account of Jezebel’s life exists in the Books of Kings. What Hazleton argues, however, is that this account is self-subverting and has been misconstrued throughout history. Interlacing fictional narrative with engaging commentary, Hazleton points out that Jezebel was never sexually promiscuous or even accused of being so; the word “harlot” only ever referred to her unfaithfulness to Yahweh. And while Elijah is a universally loved biblical figure (Hazleton gives examples of Jewish, Christian and Muslim reverence for him), her reading of Kings reveals him to be the worst sort of fundamentalist—the kind who thinks that all who oppose the true faith should be killed. Hazleton draws from a deep, impressive well of scholarship and includes a fascinating travelogue of her journeys to the places described in Kings. In addition, she provides her own rich, nuanced translation and uses it to highlight the wordplay in which the biblical authors frequently engage. Replete with apt comparisons to modern Middle Eastern conflicts, this revisionist portrait is equal parts fun and sobering—a colorful history lesson that’s sorely needed. (Oct. 16)
The Best Buddhist Writing 2007
Edited By Melvin Mcleod And The Editors Of The Shambhala Sun. Shambhala, $16.95 paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-59030-497-6
The fourth annual collection of best Buddhist writings, as in previous years, reflects breadth and diversity among English-speaking Western Buddhists. This collection is notable for the number of reflections on love—true love, mother love, a culture based on love—that offer refreshing change from more cerebral teachings on no-self. Even as he ages, venerable Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh continues to pour forth teaching in his distinctive lyrical way, embodying what is meant by “bodhisattva,” a Buddhist saint. Dying mothers, cancer, crazy siblings, violent men in a prison yard—such concrete situations all provide food for Buddhist reflection and response. Not every piece is equally accessible, which is not necessarily a problem but a caution for some readers. Two essays of Tibetan textual commentary require patience and advanced knowledge. Anthologies are not always well served by including A-list writers; Alice Walker’s essay is beautiful in parts but contains undisciplined rambling in other sections. It’s interesting to hear less well-known voices, alongside those of the Dalai Lama or the American nun Pema Chödrön, who also contribute pieces. This series does a great service by highlighting views and themes as they modulate with each passing year. (Oct. 9)
The History of Last Night’s Dream: Discovering the Hidden Path to the Soul
Rodger Kamenetz. HarperOne, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-057583-0
Kamenetz’s newest work continues his exploration of the Jewish tradition down yet another path: that of dreams. Like Jacob, who wrestles with God in the famous biblical dream, a leitmotif in the book, the author of the bestselling The Jew in the Lotus wrestles with personal, religious and cultural history in an ambitious quest to revivify the language of dreams. Kamenetz offers a psychological-cum-mystical version of Susan Sontag’s watershed Against Interpretation. Don’t “interpret” dreams, he cautions, as he lays out another way to meet and greet the nightly messages of human brains. Kamenetz offers a post-Jungian, semi-archetypal, image-centered view of dream meaning. He does so in the context of a historical overview of dream interpretation that also locates dreams in the realm of Jewish mysticism. Narratives of encounters with spiritual teachers are also part of this amalgam of a book that seems to have changed shape over time and through personal discovery. This is a disarming, hard-to-summarize, well-written and idiosyncratic book that will find a distinct audience that appreciates its reflective quirkiness. Readers who have enjoyed Kamenetz’s other journeys through Judaism will follow with surprise and pleasure his next steps along a winding spiritual path. (Oct.)
Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible: Flawed Women Loved by a Flawless God
Liz Curtis Higgs. WaterBrook, $13.99 paper (272p) ISBN 978-1-4000-7212-5
Higgs revisits the well of biblical women for this continuation of her hugely successful Bad Girls of the Bible series. Whereas Bad Girls of the Bible and Really Bad Girls of the Bible tackled the Jezebels and Salomes, often demonstrating that these women were not as nefarious as later traditions would suggest, this one takes a different tack, looking at five “good girls” of the Bible and finding them seriously flawed. Focusing on Genesis, Higgs looks at Sarah (a control freak), Hagar (who was filled with bitterness), Rebekah (a conniving schemer who played favorites with her sons), Leah (another schemer) and Rachel (who was consumed by jealousy). One theme that emerges clearly is how fertility, or the lack of it, dominated these women’s lives in a patriarchal culture. As always, Higgs’s tone is chatty and girlfriendish, addressing the reader in the second person as she emphasizes the lesson—and the humor—in each woman’s tale. And as always, this one capably blends fictional vignettes of contemporary “bad girls” with in-depth exegesis of their biblical counterparts’ stories. Higgs also reveals her own foibles as she weaves personal anecdotes into each chapter, underscoring the book’s overall theme: even faithful women can sometimes be hurtful and selfish. (Sept. 16)
Two Starred Reviews Coming in PW on July 23
Prescribing Faith: Medicine, Media, and Religion in American Culture
Claire Hoertz Badaracco. Baylor Univ., $29.95 (298p) ISBN 978-1-932792-89-8
The medical quackery of yore is commonly thought to be over. Sure, doctors may have prescribed mercury, arsenic and bloodletting in the 19th century, and they may not have washed their hands between examinations of cadavers and deliveries of babies, but aren’t we more advanced now? Badaracco, professor of communications at Marquette, thinks not. The current symbiosis between medicine and media is the rival of any sort of Victorian-era medical malpractice. Big Pharm is the most profitable sector of the stock market, and pharmaceutical companies spend twice as much on marketing as they do on research and development. Badaracco shows that media, religion and medicine have been intertwined throughout American history, often producing spectacular innovations in marketing, a mess of broken bodies in medicine and frequent religious reactions against mainstream medicine, like Christian Science and the rise of popularity for Eastern religions. She writes with panache and passion enough to ask unsettling questions: if prayer works, should it be required in hospitals by insurers? And if it works, might it also carry risk? And why is the media so keen to serve as the mouthpiece for every scare tactic and miracle drug that comes down the pike? (Oct.)
Shaking the System: What I Learned from the Great American Reform Movements
Tim Stafford. InterVarsity, $17 (192p) ISBN 978-0-8308-3436-5
Stafford, author of Never Mind the Joneses, presents another book of great clarity and insight—this time for the socially conscious Christian. With easy-to-follow analysis, Stafford explores four great social reform movements of American history (abolition, prohibition, women’s suffrage and civil rights) and extracts lessons for contemporary activists. He points out that all these historic movements had deep roots in faith-based communities and that the most successful factions drew strength from a simple core truth (e.g., “slavery is sin,” or “women are equal to men”). Every movement also had its fractures and conflicts, its failures and burnouts. Stafford pulls out intriguing details that readers won’t have learned in civics class to illustrate the pros and cons of pressure tactics, the inevitable temptation to violence and the dangers of political compromise. Stafford is nuanced and therefore persuasive—he does not entirely rule out violence and politics, but uses compelling stories to warn about their limitations. Perhaps the central message is that the world—and the Kingdom of God—need “passionate yet durable” activists: people who are rooted in community life and able to follow the rush of early idealism with the dogged lifelong stamina needed to cement change. This is required reading for every evangelical Christian with a social conscience. (Oct.)
An Original RBL Starred Review
After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religion Robert Wuthnow. Princeton Univ., $29.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-691-12765-1
In a volume sure to change how pundits and clergy think about religion in the contemporary U.S., prolific Princeton sociologist Wuthnow (American Mythos) assembles and analyzes a vast amount of data about the religious lives of Americans aged 21 to 45. His interests include the extent to which younger adults participate in organized worship, as well as how they think about spirituality, the relationship between religion and politics, and theology. Wuthnow insists that in some ways, today’s younger adults are similar to their boomer parents—the vitality of small groups, for example, is nothing new. But there are key differences, chief among them the tendency of today’s younger adults to remain single longer than ever before. Married people are significantly more likely to participate in religious communities; at the same time, participation in at least some religious groups may make marriage more likely. Wuthnow argues that our society provides lots of structural support for children and teens, but leaves younger adults to fend for themselves during the decades when they’re making crucial decisions about family and work. Though long passages of dense statistics make for a sometimes clunky read, this book is terrifically important. (Sept.)
