Meditation is rooted in a boundless “original love” that has inspired all of creation, according to the contemplative if meandering latest from zen teacher Shukman (One Blade of Grass). Guiding readers on a path toward such a love, Shukman outlines four “inns,” or resting points, where one can learn the value of mindfulness (through which “we learn to love ourselves... to have compassion for the way we suffer”); support (connecting with others and with the meditative practice itself); absorption (finding fulfillment and total presence in the moment); and awakening (to an “infinite love” that connects the practitioner to the universe). Guided meditations and tips elucidate these concepts and how readers can practice them, as do frequent anecdotes from the author’s life. To illustrate absorption, for example, Shukman recalls growing up with severe eczema and learning to access a mental “refuge” within the extreme pain by, paradoxically, letting go of his desire for relief: “I couldn’t get there by wanting to... the door opened by itself.” While the surfeit of personal examples sometimes takes things off track, Shukman’s graceful prose and eye for nuance allows him to build an effective case for cultivating an “ever more breaking heart” that can love and be loved with total openness. Meditation practitioners of all levels will find inspiration in Shukman’s wise guidance. (July)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

Van De Car (Wellness Witch) teams up with Mikaila Adriance (Candle Magic), Pliny T. Young, and Eugene Fletcher (Fairies Oracle Deck) for a concise and visually appealing beginner’s guide to magic. In sections devoted to crystals, fairies, palmistry, tarot, and the zodiac, the authors provide basic advice for using crystals during meditation and reading tarot with a three-card spread; background on the symbolism of the heart, head, and life lines in palmistry; and an eclectic cultural history that touches, among other topics, on fairies in literature and myth. Newbies might wish for more hands-on guidance than what’s presented in the relatively bare-bones meditation exercise and the chapter on fairies, which notes that whether such spirits “favor you ultimately depends on the kind of energy you exude” but doesn’t explain how readers might model such an energy. Still, the grounding in magical history is solid, and readers will be inspired by the authors’ viewpoint that magic “silently exists in the quiet moments of coincidence that occur in your daily life... you just need to know... how to look for it.” It’s a useful jumping-off point for those curious about developing their own magical practice. Illus. (July)

Reviewed on 03/29/2024 | Details & Permalink

Theologian Kim (Invisible) methodically deconstructs “white maleness as an ideology and theology” that has found its way into churches, Christian culture, and religious iconography. A Korean immigrant to Canada in the 1970s, the author was ridiculed by classmates for her “Asianness” and made to recite the Lord’s Prayer in public school. The overwhelming message, she writes, “was clear: to be a good immigrant of color, conformity with the national white norm was imperative.” Her family soon joined a local church, where she learned about a “white, male Jesus” in songs and at Sunday school. Kim traces the genesis of white Christianity to the early Roman empire, when Jesus was depicted as light-skinned to “reinforce... the desires of those who held power and authority,” giving rise to a Eurocentric faith that was spread by missionaries. In the place of a white God, she implores readers to envision a nonwhite genderless “Spirit” who celebrates diversity and inspires Christians to seek justice for all. While the author’s static prose undercuts the impact of her childhood recollections, readers will welcome her ambitious efforts to imagine a more inclusive faith through a mix of theological musings and such real-life examples as Korea’s “women churches,” which ordain female ministers and provide “solace to... patriarchal oppression in society.” It’s a thought-provoking invitation for readers to broaden their notions of the divine. (May)

Reviewed on 03/22/2024 | Details & Permalink

“You don’t have to choose between the well-established science of our day... and authentic Christian faith,” according to this comprehensive and passionate study. Stump (Science and Christianity) constructs a wide-ranging and nuanced case that dismantles literalist interpretations of the Bible. He notes, for example, that in Genesis, the reported cubic footage of Noah’s ark could not have physically contained “two of all living creatures.” Elsewhere, he adeptly reframes evolution using biblical precedents that suggest God “didn’t create things the way they were ultimately intended to be” (for instance, instead of filling the world with people, God urged Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply”). Other sections detail how Stump’s own perusal of scientific research brought alive “God’s creativity and delight in creation” in deeper ways. Throughout, Stump marshals fine-grained textual analysis to convincingly frame the Bible as a divinely inspired text written by ancient people with “very different scientific knowledge” than today’s humans have. He’s less persuasive on how souls evolved in humans, which he links to the development of bipedalism and language. Still, his logical and nuanced approach stands a good chance of reaching those struggling to find a meeting point between the natural and the supernatural. Admirers of Janet Kellogg Ray’s Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark? will be pleased. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/22/2024 | Details & Permalink

Cherry (The Dark Side of the Soul), the dean of King’s College Cambridge, probes in this discerning study the “mistakes in the way Christianity has approached and promoted forgiveness.” Starting roughly in the 1980s, a “therapeutic forgiveness” industry emerged that promoted interventions for those more “debilitated” by their own emotional response (anger, desire for vengeance) to an offense than to the offense itself. Cherry traces the roots of this approach to Christianity’s uncritical view of forgiveness as a way for humans to emulate God’s mercy. Yet, he writes, that understanding rests partly on a misinterpretation of Jesus’s final pardon of his executioners, which Cherry argues was not an act of forgiveness but a prayer. Contending that when forgiveness is “simplified and over-promoted,” the “abused, the harmed and the exploited... pay the price,” Cherry cites such examples as the South African Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s attempts to “heal” the country from apartheid, which often involved soliciting “poor black women” to officially forgive their white transgressors. Cherry’s call for a contextual understanding of forgiveness and defense of such alternatives as principled, “non-vengeful unforgiveness” (in which the wronged neither seeks retaliation nor gives the transgressor a “free pass” for their actions) are reasonable and thought-provoking. It’s a worthy complement to Myisha Cherry’s Failures of Forgiveness. (May)

Reviewed on 03/22/2024 | Details & Permalink

The life and thought of Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) can prove instructive for “our own censorious time of dangerous political polarization,” according to this admiring biography from bestseller Buruma (The Collaborators). Born into a Portuguese Jewish merchant family in Amsterdam, Spinoza developed a sense of “personal caution”; he was “cagey” about sharing ideas with those he didn’t trust and halted translations of some of his potentially inflammatory works from Latin into Dutch. His provocative notions, including his belief that god and nature were inseparable and his dismissal of “religious superstitions that worked on people’s hopes and fears,” threatened the religious and secular authorities of his time, and contributed to his formal expulsion from the city’s Spanish-Portuguese Jewish community in 1656. Though Spinoza “was no revolutionary,” Buruma contends that he was committed to a revolutionary mode of “reason and freedom of thought” to which all, regardless of religion or culture, were entitled. Overviewing the political and religious landscape of Spinoza’s lifetime, Buruma convincingly frames the philosopher’s dedication to reason as an exemplar for an America constricted by a “disregard for... discernible reality” and by “secular ideologies which insist... on ideological conformity” in the same way as the church did in Spinoza’s. It’s an inspiring reassessment of the enduring relevance of a trailblazing thinker. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 03/22/2024 | Details & Permalink

Duck Dynasty star Robertson (Uncanceled) issues a zealous call for readers to embrace Jesus in exchange for “eternal life.” Recalling how his own salvation at age 28 helped him “enjoy a new life rooted in an eternal future,” the author relays similar promises to readers (“What if you knew that this star-breathing, death-defeating God also promises you immortality in exchange for you simply believing in him?”). He also contemplates what an eternal life might look like (“an intimate future in the presence of the Father we love and the Son who died for us”), and dispenses advice for how to fortify one’s faith, including by confessing sins, renouncing “superficial substitutes” for God’s love, and avoiding self-righteousness (“You may be a respectable church member, but so were the Pharisees”). Unfortunately, Robertson’s message is often obscured by the somewhat meandering and repetitive structure, apocalyptic commentary on sex (“The growing number of people with STDs” is evidence of “spiritual darkness... creeping across our nation”), and retrograde depictions of what he claims are Satan’s effects on Earth, including “broken marriages” and “young men and women confused about their gender and sexuality.” Only the author’s most devoted fans need apply. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

McNeil (Becoming Brave), an associate professor of reconciliation at Seattle Pacific University, issues an impassioned call for Christians to bridge racial and social divides by drawing on principles from the biblical book of Nehemiah, an account of a high-ranking Persian official who rebuilds Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. To mend “broken relationships and systems” with “forgiveness [and] justice,” readers are encouraged to ask questions to uncover “core issues,” following the example of Nehemiah, who inquired about the conditions of the Jews in Jerusalem. Elsewhere, McNeil draws lessons on how to form diverse coalitions and empathize with others as they suffer injustice (Nehemiah “lamented” for the plight of those who survived the captivity). The biblical narrative serves as a solid organizing framework but doesn’t always add much to Salter’s analysis. For example, readers are reminded that Nehemiah’s project was met with resistance and that they too should anticipate “external and internal challenges” in their repair work. Though discussions of reparations and police and education reform are strewn throughout, some readers may wish for more organized action items. Still, McNeil’s uplifting message is enriched by her poignant personal musings, including how her recollection of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination highlights the links between faith and social activism. The result is an inspiring starting point for Christians looking to put their beliefs into action. (May)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

Druids Garden blogger O’Driscoll (Sacred Actions) presents a creative guide to healing the Earth from pollution, habitat loss, and other man-made harms. Taking a holistic approach that mixes “physical, metaphysical, and personal healing,” the author recommends making herbal offerings to promote abundance; performing a “tree blessing ceremony” to dispel negative energy; and composting to remedy nutrient deficiencies in the soil. Elsewhere, “self-healing” practices range from the expected (meditating, journaling) to the innovative (herbal baths and vision boards for what a “healed world” might look like). Though a chapter on replanting the landscape for ecological diversity gets short shrift, O’Driscoll provides a balanced mix of spiritual and pragmatic tools to mitigate environmental harm and rebuild a connection to the land amid what she characterizes as an unprecedented “division” between humans and nature fueled by “exploitative” Western attitudes. It’s an ideal resource for spiritually inclined environmentalists. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 03/08/2024 | Details & Permalink

Grammy-winning gospel singer Leonard debuts with a rousing call to “follow God when the way seems impossible” or unclear. Crediting her pastor father with teaching her perseverance and reminding her to “stay at the feet of Jesus,” Leonard cites examples from her own life, including when she heeded God’s “instructions” to move to Atlanta without a job or place to live, and eventually joined the church that kick-started her singing career. Elsewhere, she urges readers to trust friends and family to “help us see the gifts that... we have inside us,” noting that friends encouraged her to record her debut album, and to keep one’s head above water in periods of crisis, guidance she illustrates by describing how, about a week after her father’s death, she steeled herself to go to the 2014 Grammy awards ceremony, where she won for best gospel/contemporary Christian music performance. While Leonard’s advice can feel somewhat trite (“Even if the direction you’re headed seems crazy, do it anyway!”), her passion for “taking risks through faith” is infectious, and the inspiring account of her rise to gospel stardom is full of serendipitous breaks, hard-won successes, and spiritual breakthroughs. “It felt like God had just opened a door and I walked right through it,” she recalls of her first time singing solo to a congregation. For gospel music fans, this hits all the right notes. (May)

Reviewed on 03/08/2024 | Details & Permalink