And by the way...
...I've been forgetting to review the rest of the New Church Teaching Series that I've read so far. Briefly:
Living With History by Fredrica Harris Thompsett -- if I went by the blurb I'd think this book was exactly the sort of thing I wanted to read to find out about the Anglican church, but I am sorry to say that the first chapter bored me so badly I gave up on the book. The bit I read suffered from the same problem I have encountered in other books in this series -- needlessly autobiographical and liable to make the whole subject into a jungle rather than a forest: I don't care to bring a figurative machete to my history books, thank you. I might try it again before I return the books to Cathy, but I certainly won't attempt to sit down and read the whole thing.
Ethics After Easter by Stephen Holmgren -- I haven't really dipped into this book yet, but I think it will be one of the better ones. I'll let you know.
Christian Social Witness by Harold T. Lewis -- very good: packs a punch and gets to the point. Does a good job of balancing history with current philosophy -- that is, it explains what happened and what it has to do with what's going on now in our culture. If you're going to do that, of course, you're much more liable to agenda than if you spend a lot of time hedging everything around with vagaries of interpretation, but in my experience people who unblushingly present an agenda are much more likely to make you think clearly yourself in response than those who waffle. And that is what this book does -- present an agenda and provoke thought. I recommend it not only to Anglicans but to Christians and even non-Christians who want to know what's going on in the church. Its only glaring flaw from an authorial standpoint is that it ends rather tersely, without a conclusion to bring the whole thing together -- but it's a flaw I can forgive as the material is so clearly presented.
Horizons of Mission by Titus Presler -- only with Roger Ferlo's Opening the Bible have I been so impressed thus far in the series. This is another one I highly recommend to Anglicans, Christians, and non-Christians alike. This is a man who knows how to wield the autobiographical narrative tool of rhetoric: he opens his major sections with anecdotes of his experience as a missionary kid and later a grown missionary, and uses the kernel of each of these experiences to set the philosophical tone for the section that follows. Presler's presentation of Christian concepts of mission -- and the potentially divisive questions that surround them -- taught me quite a lot about Christian mission without prescribing my thoughts for me. Again, highly recommended.
A Theology of Worship by Louis Weil -- I was so looking forward to the contents of a book with this title, and oh, the disappointment! Guy's very full of himself, and talks a lot of fluff. I gave up on this one too.
I get nervous when I find myself saying stuff like this last, because it reminds me so forcibly of my freshman students badmouthing, say, Foucault or Susan Bordo ("what I want to know is, what does this woman look like? I bet that has a lot to do with why she's writing this ["Hunger as Ideology"].") So if anyone knows something about the ones I didn't like and can take me to school, I'd gladly welcome it. There. My Disclaimer of Possible Immaturity.
As for the other volumes -- The Practice of Prayer, Early Christian Traditions, and Mysteries of Faith -- I look forward to getting a hold of these and reading them. I also look forward to finding out what anyone and everyone might have to say about this series as a whole or any of the books in it.
...I've been forgetting to review the rest of the New Church Teaching Series that I've read so far. Briefly:
Living With History by Fredrica Harris Thompsett -- if I went by the blurb I'd think this book was exactly the sort of thing I wanted to read to find out about the Anglican church, but I am sorry to say that the first chapter bored me so badly I gave up on the book. The bit I read suffered from the same problem I have encountered in other books in this series -- needlessly autobiographical and liable to make the whole subject into a jungle rather than a forest: I don't care to bring a figurative machete to my history books, thank you. I might try it again before I return the books to Cathy, but I certainly won't attempt to sit down and read the whole thing.
Ethics After Easter by Stephen Holmgren -- I haven't really dipped into this book yet, but I think it will be one of the better ones. I'll let you know.
Christian Social Witness by Harold T. Lewis -- very good: packs a punch and gets to the point. Does a good job of balancing history with current philosophy -- that is, it explains what happened and what it has to do with what's going on now in our culture. If you're going to do that, of course, you're much more liable to agenda than if you spend a lot of time hedging everything around with vagaries of interpretation, but in my experience people who unblushingly present an agenda are much more likely to make you think clearly yourself in response than those who waffle. And that is what this book does -- present an agenda and provoke thought. I recommend it not only to Anglicans but to Christians and even non-Christians who want to know what's going on in the church. Its only glaring flaw from an authorial standpoint is that it ends rather tersely, without a conclusion to bring the whole thing together -- but it's a flaw I can forgive as the material is so clearly presented.
Horizons of Mission by Titus Presler -- only with Roger Ferlo's Opening the Bible have I been so impressed thus far in the series. This is another one I highly recommend to Anglicans, Christians, and non-Christians alike. This is a man who knows how to wield the autobiographical narrative tool of rhetoric: he opens his major sections with anecdotes of his experience as a missionary kid and later a grown missionary, and uses the kernel of each of these experiences to set the philosophical tone for the section that follows. Presler's presentation of Christian concepts of mission -- and the potentially divisive questions that surround them -- taught me quite a lot about Christian mission without prescribing my thoughts for me. Again, highly recommended.
A Theology of Worship by Louis Weil -- I was so looking forward to the contents of a book with this title, and oh, the disappointment! Guy's very full of himself, and talks a lot of fluff. I gave up on this one too.
I get nervous when I find myself saying stuff like this last, because it reminds me so forcibly of my freshman students badmouthing, say, Foucault or Susan Bordo ("what I want to know is, what does this woman look like? I bet that has a lot to do with why she's writing this ["Hunger as Ideology"].") So if anyone knows something about the ones I didn't like and can take me to school, I'd gladly welcome it. There. My Disclaimer of Possible Immaturity.
As for the other volumes -- The Practice of Prayer, Early Christian Traditions, and Mysteries of Faith -- I look forward to getting a hold of these and reading them. I also look forward to finding out what anyone and everyone might have to say about this series as a whole or any of the books in it.
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