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I feel like I am supposed to love this book because it's “classic” sci-fi and I love sci-fi... but I did not love this book. I didn't love the original Blade Runner movie that took its inspiration from this book either, but I did really like the ideas and the question of what it means to be human. And I liked that in the book as well. For that matter, I liked the book better than the movie... but that's not saying that much since I don't care for the movie. (too violent and painfully slow pacing.)
TL:DR – Hey, Philip Jenkins, your conservative bias is showing.
I had to read this for a seminary course and interact briefly with each chapter. So here is what I wrote:
Chapter 1: What stood out to me in this chapter was that Jenkins' seemed to be praising the “conservative themes” running through African and Asian Christianity: “These include a much greater respect for the authority of scripture, especially in matters of morality; a willingness to accept the Bible as an inspired text and a tendency to literalism; a special interest in supernatural elements of scripture, such as miracles, visions, and healings; a belief in the continuing power of prophecy; and a veneration for the Old Testament, which is considered as authoritative as the New” (4). And Jenkins seems to be dismissive of “liberals” who would take issue with that kind of literalism when he writes, “Liberals might indeed discern all the elements of that unholy trinity identified by Peter Gomes—bibliolatry, culturism, and literalism—a religion of the letter rather than the Spirit, one that worships the text rather than God” (10). But I think I would fall into the so-called “liberal” camp here because I am extremely wary of bibliolatry and literalism at this point.
Chapter 2: I do like the emphasis on hearing scripture read aloud in a communal setting and not being relegated to a private, individual task all of the time. (page 25)
Chapter 3: There was an interesting example about people in Uganda who loved the story of Solomon and all of his wives pushing back on what the missionaries were telling them about polygamy being wrong. The people said “didn't you tell me everything in the Bible was true?” and then the missionary had to explain “that words in the Bible, while all true and divinely inspired, are true to varying degrees” (Jenkins, 42). But I agree that we have to understand that “true” doesn't always mean “fact”. So we have to dig deep into what do we mean by “Is the Bible true?” We cannot and should not put the Old Testament on the same level as the New Testament. Doing so contributes to a flat reading of the text that is not helpful, at best, and leads to really bad theology, at worst.
Chapter 4: I think this is an important takeaway from this chapter: “What the North reads in moral or individualistic terms remains for the South social and communal. (79). I think those of us in North America could learn a great deal and be impacted a great deal from learning how to think and read the Bible in less individualistic ways and move towards more communal ways of living and understanding the Bible.
Chapter 5: I think there can be a tendency for some people to see the work of Satan where it's just sinful people or it's just a natural disaster that may or may not be the result of the way we humans have treated our planet. An example is given about the tsunami in 2004. The leader of one Nigerian independent church said: “the Holy Bible shows that Satan is responsible for the troubles that afflict the world” (99). But I just don't think I buy that explanation.
Chapter 6: I liked the commentary on applying Psalm 23 – “Global South Christians use Psalm 23 in familiar devotional ways, but they also understand it as a stark rejection of unjust secular authority” (127).
Chapter 7: I feel very strongly about women's rights and women's equality. I was raised in the conservative Christian Church (Restoration Movement) where women were not allowed to preach/teach/lead men. I wrestled with that teaching and pushed back against it until I finally came to understand that it was NOT, in fact, the only way to interpret those key passages in the New Testament. So when I read about how in the global South, women are still viewed as objects or possessions with no rights, it infuriates me. And I am glad that Christianity is actually opening the door to giving them freedom and power to speak up: “It is especially from the texts dealing with women that readers discover the full radicalism of the Christian message” (177).
Chapter 8: I'm really tired of seeing/hearing people, including Jenkins, use “liberal” and “liberalism” as a negative descriptor: “The contrast seems worrying: new orthodox churches hew to authentic scripture; old churches fall prey to liberalism and succumb to fiction and speculation” (186). Part of the problem with tossing around the word “liberal” and “liberalism” comes down to defining our terms. Is someone a liberal Christian if they don't believe the worldwide flood actually happened? What if they don't believe God really told the Israelites to commit genocide, or that the battle of Jericho might not have actually happened the way it is recorded in the Old Testament? These things come down to different interpretations of scripture and I would argue that this does not equate someone not being faithful to God's word.
I'm still not sure what I think about this book. I am a feminist. But I definitely don't agree with everything bell hooks says in this book. For one thing, she claims that you can't be a feminist if you aren't pro-choice... and I have very complicated thoughts and feelings about all of that. But suffice it to say that I do not agree with hooks assertion on this matter.
I love Chrissy Metz! Of course, we know who she is from “This is Us” (such a good show!)
I listened to Chrissy read the audiobook version which is my favorite way to read this type of book. I also started and finished this book in less than 24 hours.
Listening to her story and learning more about who she is really just made me wish we could be friends IRL, lol. I love her confidence and her desire to see other people know their worth as well.
I have really enjoyed several of the movies Anna Kendrick has been in, and I enjoyed her personality where I've seen it come through in different talk show appearances and interviews, so I figured I would enjoy her book, and I did. It was especially fun to listen to her narrate the audiobook version. She definitely made me laugh a lot too!
When I picked this up, I didn't realize the intended audience was “middle grades”. But that didn't hinder my enjoyment of this biography. I love Madeleine L'Engle and I love hearing more about her from her granddaughters as they have used snippets from Madeleine's journals, letters, and diaries to help paint this portrait.
Read my full review at jenniferneyhart.com
Basically, I loved it.
I first stumbled across Jamie Wright's blog in March of 2011. I immediately loved her writing, her stories, and her perspective.
If you are offended by “profanity”, this might not be the book for you. (However, as one of the reviewers on Amazon said “if you are a Christian and have watched a rated R movie recently, you can handle this book. And you should.” - which made me laugh, but it's also a valid point!)
Jamie's memoir is hilarious, but also honest. I think she is asking good questions and pointing out things that need to be brought into the light regarding short-term missions and the Missionary Machine in general.
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Madeleine Lambert, and I didn't want to stop listening. It's just under 5 hours and I could have kept listening for 5 more. I hope Jamie writes more books in the future. (By the way, if you tend to buy books on Kindle, and you buy this one on Kindle, you can add on the audiobook for $7.47, which is what I did.)
To see some of my favorite quotes from the book Read my full review at jenniferneyhart.com
Read my full review at jenniferneyhart.com
I loved this book so much! And reading this reminds me of how much I love Madeleine L'Engle and how much I want to read (and re-read) everything she wrote!
I shouldn't really be surprised given how much I love L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time books. And this book gives us her thoughts on everything from theology, writing, children's education, writing books for children vs. adults, and more.
There is also encouragement here for those who want to see their own books published: A Wrinkle in Time was rejected 26 times before it was published!
“A Wrinkle in Time was almost never published. You can't name a major publisher who didn't reject it. And there were many reasons. One was that it was supposedly too hard for children. Well, my children were 7, 10, and 12 while I was writing it. I'd read to them at night what I'd written during the day, and they'd say, “Ooh, mother, go back to the typewriter!” A Wrinkle in Time had a female protagonist in a science fiction book, and that wasn't done. And it dealt with evil and things that you don't find, or didn't at that time, in children's books. When we'd run through forty-odd publishers, my agent sent it back. We gave up.” - L'Engle
See the rest of my review at jenniferneyhart.com
I wanted to like this more than I did. And I expected to like it more than I did. I will say the second half of the book held my interest better than the first.
It definitely feels inspired by the basic idea of The Matrix. the whole brain in a jar/vat bit
Basically, I'm glad that I read it but I doubt I will want to read it again.
Oh, and I'm still looking forward to getting around to reading the epic fantasy novels Sanderson is really known for.
Re-read on 11/14/18 as part of “Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds”, so I can find out how this ends.
*****
“My name is Stephen Leeds, and I'm perfectly sane. My hallucinations, however, are all quite mad.” This is the first line of the book and it's perfect! I really enjoyed this one! It made me laugh out loud quite a few times.
One of Stephen's hallucinations has hallucinations.
One of his hallucinations is adamant that he is NOT a hallucination.
I listened to this one on audible and Oliver Wyman does a great job with the various voices and accents for the different characters and “aspects” of our main character.
I've been wanting to start reading books by Brandon Sanderson for several years now and this was a nice, short, introduction that leaves me wanting more. I actually bought the sequel to this one as soon as I finished!
4.5 stars.
My basic stream of thoughts while listening to this audiobook:
“This seems funny, reminds me a little bit of the tone of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.”
“Maybe more annoying though.”
“Okay, how many times is this book going to make fun of Gender Studies as a degree program? Not cool. This book is grating on my nerves.”
“Oh good. Now he's mocking the existence of the patriarchy. I was leaning towards 2 stars but he might have just gotten downgraded to 1.”
