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Room for Good Things to Run Wild: How Ordinary People Become Every Day Saints

Josh Nadeau. Thomas Nelson, $29.99 (240p) ISBN 978-1-4003-4104-7

Artist Nadeau debuts with a vulnerable if sometimes overwrought account of overcoming addiction. A high-powered banker with a leadership position at his church, the author spent years struggling with an emptiness that neither drinking nor an increasingly hollow faith could fill. After hitting rock bottom, he left banking and took a string of odd jobs as he set about repairing his life. Therapy helped him realize he’d been wanting a closer connection with God, which he nurtured through an “embodied life” of serving others, decentering the self, and finding goodness in the everyday (ordinary routines like going to work, he writes, imbue “that which is finite and temporal” with virtue). Most evocative are the author’s meditations on the emotionally numbing experience of addiction, which he describes as akin to “being unable to participate in the Fullness of the world around me.” Unfortunately, his insights become fuzzier the further he strays from his own lived experience, as when he suggests that readers facing their own crises should “listen to the Hidden Music” and “have courage enough to follow it wherever it may lead.” The result is an intermittently insightful testament to the life-saving power of faith. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Abraham: The First Jew

Anthony Julius. Yale Univ, $30 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-300-26680-1

University of Chicago law professor Julius (T.S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism and Literary Form) argues in this provocative if ultimately unconvincing account that the Jewish patriarch is emblematic of a key dichotomy at the heart of Jewish life. Splitting Abraham’s life into two periods, he characterizes “Abraham 1” as an idol-smashing “public intellectual” in a polytheistic society who was nearly killed before he was exiled from the Mesopotamian city of Ur. He then became “Abraham 2,” “a man of faith” who “subordinate[d] himself to God in all His exacting demands” and encouraged others to do the same—a shift that explains why he was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, at God’s command. According to the author, the two Abrahams symbolize competing impulses—the desire to critically question God versus faithfully submit to his will—that comprise the dichotomy at the center of Jewish life. Though this theory intrigues, the author’s heavy reliance on midrashic sources to fill in the scriptural blanks (the Torah makes no mention of Abraham’s Ur period) comes across as cherry-picking, and his argument is further weakened by analyses that can be circuitous and challenging to follow. This fails to achieve its lofty ambitions. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Jesus Doesn’t Care About Your Messy House: He Cares About Your Heart

Dana K. White. Thomas Nelson, $19.99 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-1-4003-4437-6

A Slob Comes Clean blogger White (Decluttering at the Speed of Life) assures readers in this cheerful guide that God loves them precisely for the messes they make. Admitting that her own disorganized house “was once my deepest, darkest secret,” White recalls anxiously canceling her kids’ playdates and having out-of-towners stay at hotels before she started the blog that finally helped her get organized. Yet even as the clutter receded, she wasn’t cured of messiness; instead, she came to better understand “who Jesus is and how he designed me”—including, for instance, giving her the ability “to hyper focus on one thing,” even if that means letting household chores slide. Aiming to untangle the false links between cleanliness, morality, and spirituality, White notes that cleanliness is not among the characteristics of a godly woman listed in Proverbs 31, and contends that a messy house is not a sign of laziness. Such discussions, which touch on prevailing notions of domesticity, Christianity, and female perfection, are often perceptive, though White sometimes stretches her thesis too far, as when she writes that a feeling of “grossed-out-edness” while cleaning should remind one “of the difference between the world you currently live in and the promise of eternity.” Still, this makes an organized house seem within reach. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious

Ross Douthat. Zondervan, $29.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-310-36758-1

The choice to practice a faith is “not only socially or psychologically desirable but an entirely reasonable perspective on the nature of reality,” according to this stimulating if flawed treatise. Countering the notion of religion as a thoughtless surrender to the supernatural, New York Times opinion columnist Douthat (The Decadent Society) argues for a faith rooted in science, writing that the universe is “made for us” (the big bang theory suggests the existence of an intentional God who created the universe at a specific moment, according to Douthat), that human consciousness is “improbably fine-tuned” to appreciate cosmic intricacies, and that “spiritual and supernatural” phenomena stubbornly persist in an age of supposed disenchantment. Those arguments are unpacked in rich scientific detail, with an especially illuminating discussion of human consciousness as an “irreducible” mystery whose mechanics 500-odd years of scientific research have failed to account for. Later chapters are less persuasive, however, with Douthat attempting to answer the question of how evil can exist in the world given God’s goodness and omnipotence largely by positing that divine choices surpass human understanding. Elsewhere, he suggests that believers might seek out “a major world religion” partly because those faiths “triumphed over primeval belief systems for a reason,” without noting the role played by military campaigns aimed at exterminating rival faiths. This is unlikely to change minds. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Humans of Judaism

Nikki Schreiber. Artisan, $30 (256p) ISBN 978-1-64829-401-3

Schreiber debuts with a cheery and unique collection of “positive and uplifting Jewish stories” inspired by her Instagram account of the same name. Running the gamut from ordinary to famous, the 200 sections spotlight such artists, athletes, scientists, celebrities, and actors as Mattel cofounder Ruth Handler, who invented Barbie dolls; comedian Jerry Seinfeld (who’s said that “the greatest Jewish tradition is to laugh”); and lesser known figures like Sam Salz, the Texas A&M wide receiver who’s thought to be the only Orthodox Jew to play NCAA Division 1 college football. Also featured prominently are Jews who escaped the Holocaust and found new lives in Israel or America, several with the help of “incredible people who jeopardized their own lives to do the right thing.” Schreiber leaves some stones unturned—Bess Myerson is celebrated as the first, and only, Jewish Miss America, but no reference is made to the highly public corruption scandal that caused her to resign from her post as New York City commissioner of cultural affairs in 1987—though the book’s general conceit, that Jews have turned “our pain into perseverance... providing some light in the darkness,” makes for an uplifting message during a moment of rising antisemitism. The result is an upbeat celebration of the diversity of Jewish life around the world. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 11/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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I Want You to Be Happy: Finding Peace and Abundance in Everyday Life

Pope Francis, trans. from the Italian by Oonagh Stransky. Faithwords, $28 (240p) ISBN 978-1-54600-797-5

Pope Francis (Life) delivers a series of compassionate if flat meditations on seeking joy in the mundane. Contending that God “created us because he wants us to be happy”—and that despite earthly challenges, he has given humans the tools to cultivate a sunnier perspective—Francis encourages readers to perform acts of charity; to love others rather than get swept up in materialistic lifestyles that spark “unhappiness, apathy and... boredom”; and take risks even if it means making mistakes. Much of his advice boils down to centering one’s life around God and other people, which he characterizes as a “revolutionary” act in a world ruled by self-obsession and superficiality. While such lessons may not offer much new insight or be as “against-the-grain” as the author suggests (even as he frequently relies on inspirational quotes from Francis of Assissi, J.R.R. Tolkien, and others), Francis’s down-to-earth prose and matter-of-fact guidance makes for a sound reminder to seek the good in a world filled with bad news. Catholics will be reassured and inspired. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 11/08/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Lifescapes: A Biographer’s Search for the Soul

Ann Wroe. Thomas Nelson, $19.99 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-4003-4793-3

Wroe (Six Facets of Light) draws on her life and her career as obituaries editor for the Economist in this freewheeling exploration of “the unique and essential part of ourselves” most synonymous with the soul and the challenges of capturing it on the page. According to Wroe, the clues to this essential self are found in the particulars: a sugar cake whose sweetness evokes a great aunt; “the gesture of taking someone’s pulse, touching the fingers gently to the wrist, then falling silent to listen.” Exploring how other artists aim to capture their subjects’ “life-force,” she notes that figurative artists complete the first study of a figure in “a minute, to catch not the shape or the mass but... to seize something more,” while poets including Stanley Kunitz traverse the “boundaries between what they observe and themselves.” In the end, Wroe suggests the soul might be best defined as a transitory force that is rooted in a love that operates “according to its own laws. Instead of pausing over our troubles, it pours itself out continually among them.” Wroe delivers her perceptive insights into life, death, and the struggle for meaning in luminous prose, though her rapid shifts between topics (she moves from Fidel Castro’s mistress to chess champion Bobby Fischer in a few sentences) can feel haphazard. Still, spiritually curious readers will be captivated by Wroe’s wide-ranging quest to understand what comprises a life. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 11/08/2024 | Details & Permalink

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This Changes Everything: A Surprisingly Funny Story About Race, Cancer, Faith, and Other Things

Tyler Merritt, with David Tieche. Worthy, $27.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-5460-0696-1

Comedian Merritt (I Take My Coffee Black) recounts his four-year struggle with cancer in this witty, digressive, and often moving memoir. After he was diagnosed with lipiosarcoma, a rare cancer that originates in the body’s fatty tissues, at age 44—and underwent emergency surgery to remove a 27-pound mass from his abdomen—Merritt learned that the cancer had not been fully eradicated and would need to be scanned every six months. As his life devolved into half-year “countdowns,” Merritt was forced to shift out of “strong Black man mode” and grapple with his emotions and his faith. At the same time, the Black Lives Matter movement prompted him to consider his illness in light of what it means to be Black in America (noting that he and George Floyd were nearly the same height and weight, Merritt writes of his remorse that Floyd is gone “and I’m still here”). Though other musings can feel less tethered to the central narrative, Merritt draws out the humor and pathos of his illness with impressive self-awareness (within a week after surgery, he went from “having a heart-to-heart with God, promising that I would never take life for granted” to “ripping my care nurse a new one because she didn’t get me a sippy cup of juice fast enough”). This entertains and inspires. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 11/01/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Feminism, Tradition, and Change in Contemporary Islam: Negotiating Islamic Law and Gender

Shehnaz Haqqani. Oneworld Academic, $35 (400p) ISBN 978-0-86154-840-8

In her rigorous debut, Haqqani, an assistant professor of Islamic studies at Mercer University, uses gender issues as a lens through which to explore how Muslim Americans “decide when past Islamic legal precedents are open to renegotiation.” Drawing on interviews with American Muslims in Austin, Tex., she finds that views on such issues as female inheritance and the validity of Muslim women’s interfaith marriages are complex and varied, and sometimes reveal how different parts of the Muslim world are at odds. For example, many lay Muslims reject the Quran’s inheritance rules—namely, that daughters receive half the inheritance their brothers get—still embraced by the scholarly community, while current prohibitions on female-led mixed prayer mostly mirror premodern viewpoints (though some respondents expressed a desire for change). Haqqani concludes that a “mainstream Islam” does not exist—scholars and laity have been disagreeing (with themselves and one another) for centuries, shaping a flexible tradition of legal interpretation that relies on shifting social contexts, historical realities, and identity. She concludes with a hopeful call for Muslim women and the Islamic community to challenge Islam’s “gendered foundation” with the confidence that they’re not “transgressing against an unassailable tradition” but rather embracing its innate fluidity. Scrupulously researched and analyzed, this is an excellent resource for scholars of Islamic and gender studies. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Your Story Has a Villain: Identify Spiritual Warfare and Learn How to Defeat the Enemy

Jonathan Pokluda. Thomas Nelson, $19.99 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-4003-4117-7

While cast in popular culture as a “chubby little red guy with horns and a pitchfork,” Satan—along with other evil spirits “whose sole mission is to oppose God and his plans”—constitutes a pressing threat to believers, according to this overzealous guide. Pastor Pokluda (Why Do I Do What I Don’t Want to Do?) characterizes “the Enemy” as a pervasive force with “an active plot to cause you pain and suffering” that particularly enjoys “enslaving” believers to “sin, addiction, and anything else” that distracts from their faith. Much of the author’s advice comes down to living a life so suffused with faith that the devil can find no way in—a “constant, daily process” of “filling your mind with truth” via scripture, religious podcasts, and worship songs. Unfortunately, Pokluda’s passion too frequently shades into hyperbole and fearmongering (“When you are scrolling through social media comparing your life to others, [Satan] is involved. When you want to buy something you hope will make you happy, he is involved.... You are at war”). To make matters worse, the book’s explanation for why God created Satan in the first place—namely, that his temptation gives believers an opportunity to cement their trust in God—feels insufficient. This fails to convince. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 10/25/2024 | Details & Permalink

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