5 comments about God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life.

1. I just finished reading the book, "God and Ronald Reagan, a Spiritual Life". Although I was voting when Ronald Reagan was elected, I was unaware of or had forgotten his mission and his boldness in speaking the truth. In a world now that has either forgotten the evil that Communism was and still is or has been duped into thinking that there no longer is good and evil just differing viewpoints, it was so refreshing to be reminded of the truth.
   
   I was absolutely amazed at how forthright and uncompromising Ronald Reagan was. Professor Kengor does a superb job of setting the stage for all Ronald Reagan would do as President by describing in great detail his mother, his father, his church, his acting and time in leadership there, and his GE job which gave him great opportunity to hone his public speaking skills and his message of freedom of religion.
   
   I was so impressed with how Ronald Reagan carefully chose his words and took advantage of the opportunities presented to him, especially in Chapter 18, "Missionary to Moscow". He just never backed down, even when his advisors told him should. And, the words of truth he spoke to the Communist USSR. He never wavered from his core of religious beliefs.
   
   Truly inspiring! What a man he was! It is clear that Professor Kengor painstakingly researched and wrote this book, with the desire to be factually accurate and to show us another side of Ronald Reagan that was perhaps unknown to us. This is a book worth reading!



2. I just loved this book! It was not only an interesting history lesson, but one of the most spiritually-inspiring books I've ever read. I am planning to get "That Printer of Udell's" to satisfy my curiousity about this book that had such a profound effect of Reagan's childhood. I'm also interested in reading Whittaker Chamber's "Witness." Wow--one good book just leads to others! Anyway, "God and Ronald Reagan" is an amazing book that I highly recommend to anyone. (I'm under thirty, and I loved it, so I hope other young people will as well.)



3. This book is well-researched, and Dr. Kengor gives us great insight into the faith of Ronald Wilson Reagan and the role that his faith had in his public life. Kengor uses many of Reagan's speeches and writings as well as the memories of those who knew the Gipper well to reveal a man whose faith in Jesus Christ remained deep and consistent through more than 60 years of public life, both in Hollywood and in the political arena. Obviously, Reagan's faith had its greatest influence on his lifelong battle against Communism, beginning in Hollywood and continuing throughout his entire political life. During his "Evil Empire" speech, Reagan said "The source of our strength in the quest for human freedom is not material, but spiritual...And because it knows no limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow man." The President once spoke before a group of evangelical Christians and stated that the Cold War would be won not with bullets, bombs or missiles, but through our nation's great faith in God. By the end of the 1980's, that faith had prevailed and the great Soviet threat had been all but defeated. Following Reagan from his early childhood to his triumphant mission to Moscow, Kengor illustrates how Ronald Reagan, as both a spiritual leader and as a political leader changed the world, and changed the course of America, for the better.



4. Ever wonder what shaped and made President Reagan such an optimistic, influential leader; here it is. Paul Kengor, in his 2004 biography of the former president, explains how Reagan's Mother Nelle, brought him up in the Christian faith; which led him to convert to it at a young age, and how his faith helped shape his Presidency and policies.
   
   Reagan grew up in Dixon Illinois, graduated from Eureka College, became an actor who stared in 53 movies, governor of California, and later, #1 in the oval office.
   
   
   It also includes background to Reagan's "Evil Empire" speech, his assassination, and meetings with Pope John Paul II, Mother Theresa, and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev
   
   This Book Rocks! It will give you a load of insight into his life. His optimism will rub off on you.



5. This is an excellent book outlining the spiritual life of Ronald Reagan. A subject not generally covered by the secular media. This is also a book about his contribution to the fall of the Berlin wall and the Soviet Union. A must read for history buffs who want to know "the rest of the story".

No comments about Logical Luther Lee and the Methodist War Against Slavery (Studies in Evangelicalism).

5 comments about Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom-Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop.

1. This book is a very serviceable biography of John Chrysostom, the most famous preacher of the ancient church. It chronicles the entirety of John's life, from the monasticism of his youth, to his subsequent tenure as a priest in Antioch, his bishopric in the imperial capitol, and the quarrels with the bishop of Alexandria and the empress that eventually brought about his downfall.

   Kelly does an excellent job of showing John's character. We get to see that those things which in some ways were the best of John's traits, his forthrightness and lack of fear, were the very things which due to his intemperate nature led him into conflict with those who were easily made jealous and those who did not care for their misdeeds to be honestly spoken of.

   There is, however, one serious flaw in this book. Kelly seems undecided about who his audience is. He alternates between gripping narration and lengthy passages (sometimes several pages in length) wherein he dissects the arguments for and against the authenticity of a particular sermon of John's or the dating of one of his writings. In my opinion, the book would have been strengthened had Kelly simply based the main text on what he believes to be correct, and moved the disputation either to end notes or to an appendix.




2. 
   
   "John's career ended in failure. ... The tragic episcopate of John Chrysostom opened the struggle of supremacy in the East..." W.H.C. Frend
   
   
   
   
   
   John Chrysostom:
   
   Recognized to be among the most powerful orators of the ancient world, John Chrysostom was the most prolific of the Fathers, leaving us with many sermons, letters, treatises and apologetic works. He was an incredible speaker whose sermons often moved his audience to tears or applause.
   
   "Although not a formal polemicist, John Chrysostom influenced Christian thought notably. He wrote brilliant homilies, interpreting the Bible literally and historically rather than allegorically. His accomplishments as a preacher and theologian are marred by a virulent anti-Semitism." (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2001-05)
   
   
   
   J.C., Golden Mouth:
   
   The Principal of Oxford's St. Edmund Hall, described his book as, 'the Story of J.C.,' defining his selected offices as, 'Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop.' While the words of Fr. Sydney Griffith, one of the foremost Patristic scholars, are most fitting in the review of this book, I quote and apply them. One does not mean to complain immoderately, nor to appear ungrateful for what is on its own terms a good study of an important topic; nor does one want to review a book the author never intended to write. But here is the place to plead for a broadening of perspective on the part of students of early 'fathers.'
   
   Kelly recomposes the life of John Chrysostom in chronological order from his youth and its ascetic stage for his further development as a preacher. Later his pick as Archbishop of Constantinople and his career therein the capital.
   
   He remained a great orator and a moralist preacher but was socially and politically oriented. Kelly exposed the court politics and John's struggle to be faithful to his cause, by criticizing Empress Eudoxia, and inviting problems with Theophilus, who has consecrated him. John's conflicts led to his condemnation at the Synod of the Oak. John was eventually sent into his final exile, where he died on the way.
   
   
   
   Non-vindicated John:
   
   J. Kelly, described by The NY Times as, 'not only a distinguished church historian but also an elegant stylist,' remains for me and many, a reference on early Christian Creeds and Doctrines, in the first place, and expected to bring to the tragic career of the great preaching orator new lights to his thought, and vindicate his patristic literature as; "There is little original in his thought. He preserves throughout the moralizing tendencies of his Antiochene teachers," alleged to him by two great patrologists J. Danielou, and RPC Hanson. Earlier in the same chapter, J.C. is described as the friend of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and pupil of Libanius and of Diodore of Tarsus, and cast heavy shadow on his ethics as more Stoic than Christian! (J. Danielou, Historical Theology, Pelican, 1970, p.107)
   
   
   
   A Story, not a Biography:
   
   In his preface, the oxford scholar gives a version of his elaboration on the 79/80 lectures in Oxford devoted to J.C., but were not published because of Kelly's non satisfaction of his own treatment, and few years later, he modified them to chapters 2,3, and 16 of Golden Mouth. The author who explored Chrysostom's teaching on baptism, original sin, grace and free will, redemption, etc., in his classic 'Early Christian Doctrines', would not even quote himself, in reference. At least, John's treatise on the priesthood, which has been popular, though not accepted by mainstream Protestants, could have been given a brief parallel with St. Gregory Nazianzen who inspired John, but spoke in a different theological language.
   
   He concluded, "I should like to have included some tentative presuppositions underlying John's thinking, and certain of his theological ideas which still need clarification. Ultimately he decided to leave this task to 'younger scholars.'
   
   
   
   Biographer J. Kelly:
   
   The late Master of ecclesiastics J.N.D. Kelly is the Principal of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, was Canon of Chichester Cathedral, a Fellow of the British Academy, and since 1966 a member of the Academic Council of the Ecumenical Theological Institute, Jerusalem. He is the author of Early Christian Creeds, Early Christian Doctrines, Jerome, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, etc.



3. A comprehensive treatment of this Eastern Father of the Church. We have not had a study like that of J. N. D. Kelly, unless you count the originally German 2 vol study of C. Baur, translated in 1959. An eminent historian writes about an eminent (and tragic?) personality of the late fourth and early fifth century. Kelly succeeds in making real the (imperial and episcopal) politics of the early 5th century. In addition there is enough of the theology of the time which will influence later christological developments.



4. Kelly is easily recognized as our time's authority on early church matters. Here in similar fashion as his worthy work on Jerome he tackles Chrysostom.
   
   He breaks it down nicely into three major components of his life: ascetic, preacher, bishop.
   
   The politics of the church and interaction with secular authorities dominate his life, as it does most. John certainly had his prinicples and he chose not to break them. It got him into disfavor with many, thus cumulating at the end in action taken against him. That easily summarizes his end, the buildup of resentment and hatred catches up.
   
   He certainly exhibited a passion for the underpriviledged and sick and devoted his preaching and resources to this. His ascetic beginning permeated this and fueled much of his preacher/bishop energies. This will bring enemy retaliation.



5. J.N.D. Kelly presents a faithful portrait of the great Bishop of Antioch. He highlights John as a solid expositional preacher who rejected the allegorical method of intepretation as popularized by Origen. You learn of Chrysostom's reservations about being worthy enough to be ordained, and his initial interest in the monastic life.
   
   You also learn of how long periods of harsh fasting ruined his digestive system, and how for this reason, he preferred to eat alone. You learn of the turbulent and divisive times in which he served as a bishop in Antioch and then in Constantinople.
   
   You also read of his strict views about the role of women in the church and of how strict he was with the monastic communities and with the priests in Antioch and later in Constantinople.
   
   Chrysostom's sermons were powerful and held the attention of the people, even though some of them were fairly lengthy. You also learn of his friendship with Olympias, a godly woman also given to virginity and asceticism.
   
   Finally, you learn about Chrysostom's enemies from within Arianism, and from his fellow clergy, especially Severinus, Eudoxia, Theophilus, and others.
   
   We see that Chrysostom's spicy sermons sometimes got him into trouble, ie. exile.
   
   We also read of his sad death.
   
   The book is occasionally bogged down in historical minutiae, but I thought Kelly did a good job of showing how Chrysostom was affected by the times in which he lived and how he himself affected the times. I also appreciated how Kelly was able to defend the historical reliability of much of the material that we have about Chrysostom from that time period. A very good book.

5 comments about Modern Saints: Their Lives and Faces, Book 1.

1. Each chapter is a synopsis of the life of a Catholic saint or venerable person who lived some time in the last few centuries. Photos of almost every saint are included. This is a great introduction to some modern saints, and will certainly challenge us with examples of holiness in the modern world.



2. This is Volume One of a Two volume set. 458 Pp. PB. Impr. 175 Illus. Stories of 55 saints, beati, and holy people of the past 200 years, along with their pictures; most are actual photographs. Sanctity in our own time. Includes St. Gemma Galgani, St. Bernadette, St. Maria Goretti, St. John Neumann, St. Gabriel Possenti, Padre Pio, Edith Stein, St. Peter Julian Eymard, St.Frances Cabrini, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. John Bosco, Charles de Foucauld, St. Dominic Savio, and many, many more. Will bring hours and hours of pleasure and entertainment to the entire family. A book you just cannot stop reading!!



3. This is volume 2 of the 2 volume work.

   510 Pp. PB. Impr. 177 Illus. 45 saints, beati, and other holy people of the past 200 years, and their pictures; most are actual photographs. Sanctity in our own time. Includes the Cure of Ars, St. Catherine Laboure, St. Therese the Little Flower, St. Pius X, Vens. Jacinta and Francisco Marto, Dom Columba Marmion, St. Elizabeth Seton, Pauline Jaricot, Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity, Sr. Josefa Menedez, St. Joseph Cafasso, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, St. Vincent Pallotti, Theresa Neumann, and many more. Shows there are people living today who will one day be canonized Saints.




4. This is the first source I'd recommend for teenagers or adults wanting to learn more about real people who have been declared Saint or Blessed by the Church.

   Both volumes of this set focus on "Modern Saints" (of the past 150 years or so) and each story is complemented by photographs of the Saint - reinforcing the truth that the Saints aren't just about ancient history, but were living, breathing people just like us. They each struggled with challenges and difficulties of their own time and place, but each have experiences and make choices that are relevant to us today.




5. I have read all of Ann Ball's books on the saints and enjoyed this book and the second book by the same name the most. Understanding their history and the context for the saints lives and beliefs helped me to understand that sainthood is attainable. There were excellent photos of many of the saints which brought them, as individuals, alive. The only frustration I had with the book is that some of the information about individual saints is very sparse and left me, like a small bowl of popcorn, wanting more!
   I am only sorry that there are no more of her books left for me to read.

2 comments about Out of the Depths of Sexual Sin: The Story of My Life and Ministry.

1. In the introduction to his book "Out Of The Depths of Sexual Sin: The Story of My Life and Ministry" find out why author Steve Gallagher founded his Pure Life Ministries in 1986 in Sacramento. That organization began modestly enough and now is helping many good Christian people fight sex addiction. He states that his main purpose in writing his book "is to testify to the fact that God can transform the most wretched life into one of decency".
   
   This book hits on a subject that this is often hidden or ignored in so subtle of ways. The author was L.A. Deputy Sheriff while living a personal life style that was morally corrupted according to him. He was involved in the world of strip clubs, street prostitutes and other behaviors that would be considered unwholesome. In his autobiography, he opens up about his past and shares some of his deepest and most humiliating failures including his life of drug use and crime. He does not paint a pleasant picture of himself but his intentions are to show that even someone like himself can be redeemed and changed and go then on to help rescue others suffering these same delusions and temptations.
   
   This is for the mature reader only. The story is all about changing people and our culture. It is pointed out that 4.2 million websites are pornographic; so some of those people who are connecting with those websites might be someone you know and respect. According to the book, there is one scary and very startling statistic in that 20% of pastors admit to having had an affair while in the ministry. This is a problem and it is not going to go away by ignoring that it doesn't exist; so his book is trying to address this issue and reach out a helping hand to those in need of change. This book is not for everyone but if you need help with this concern or have someone you know who does then reading this book would be a good start to changing their lives.



2. I was enthralled by the first half of the book, and parts later. It really tells a hard hitting and honest evaluation of Steve's life. It takes courage to share the personal challenges and failures of one's life. We need this kind of honesty with other people. The only thing I didn't care for in the book was his "apparent" pushing of a particular religion. I beleive this would have been a five star book without that. The term "spirituality" instead of his particular church name would have enhanced the book more. I felt at times that Steve's religion was the "only" religion that you could find this kind of healing.
   
   Jesus Christ can use any of us in a ministry as needed as this one, but I feel it is in one's heart that Jesus looks and not his/her religion.

5 comments about Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies.

1. Having known Jerome as famous translator of Bible into Latin, this text intrigued because of subject and author. Neither disappointed.

   Jerome is fascinating and complex individual. Into himself, and wanting recognition, as we all do, Jerome realizes success and admiration from some circles, but resistance from others.

   His consistent ties to celibacy and monasticism were fascinating as well as his history with Origen.

   There is much to explore here in this well written work: the ties with Augustine and Pelagius are fascinating, as well as his commentaries.

   The student of early church history will find this intriguing and enlightening work to contemplate and encourage continued ventures into this period of church history.

   Kelly is major contributor of our times in this valuable area.




2. Having known Jerome as famous translator of Bible into Latin, this text intrigued because of subject and author. Neither disappointed.

   Jerome is fascinating and complex individual. Into himself, and wanting recognition, as we all do, Jerome realizes success and admiration from some circles, but resistance from others.

   His consistent ties to celibacy and monasticism were fascinating as well as his history with Origen.

   There is much to explore here in this well written work: the ties with Augustine and Pelagius are fascinating, as well as his commentaries.

   The student of early church history will find this intriguing and enlightening work to contemplate and encourage continued ventures into this period of church history.

   Kelly is major contributor of our times in this valuable area.




3. It is difficult to imagine a more challenging task for a church historian to undertake than to write a biography of St. Jerome in only 353 pages. J.N.D. Kelly's biography is magnificent in the amount of material it covers, in very readable style, in so short a length.

   The difficulty of the biography is inherent in the diversity of Jerome's life. He spent time living in both the eastern and western empires, and he lived through a remarkable series of transitions in church and empire. He was educated in Rome in the middle of the fourth century. He spent two years with the desert fathers in Syria. He lived in Antioch during the time when the church in Antioch was divided among three factions. Returning to Rome, he became Bible teacher and spiritual advisor to a group of highly educated upper class Roman women. From there, he returned to the east, establishing a new monastery in Bethlehem, where one of the women he knew in Rome (Paula) established a convent. His life spanned a time frame from 331 to 420, ranging from a time of persecution, through controversy over the views of Arians, Origen and Pelagius, and through the siege of Rome in 410. He held opinions about St. Ambrose (whom he hated), St. John Chrysostom (a follower of a different bishop in Antioch and thus an adversary), and St. Augustine (who sought out Jerome through letters, taking great care to avoid offending the temperamental but warm hearted Jerome, and who encountered conflict nonetheless but eventually became a close friend and ally against the Pelagians).

   Kelly did an admirable job of assembling information from Jerome's extensive writings and from other historians' earlier work about Jerome. His book is remarkably well written and detailed, and it is nonetheless concise.

   However, in the process of covering Jerome's life and thought in so few pages, Kelly necessarily omitted much background material. Some of Jerome's life would seem almost nonsensical without knowing more of the historical context than is given in this biography. For example, Kelly described Jerome as moving into a Syrian desert monastic community with his ever expanding library and a group of copyists. To someone with a familiarity with the Egyptian desert hermits, thinking of them as solitaries who only interacted with each other on Sunday, that might sound preposterous. However, the Syrian monks of the same era were more communal than those in Egypt, meeting together every day for prayer. Kelly did not offer the pages of explanation of the desert fathers and mothers that would have helped to make sense of that.

   Similarly, Kelly devoted limited space to background information about the Roman education system. Kelly explained that Jerome would have studied rhetoric, and that he probably learned little Greek and little philosophy while in Rome. Later, Kelly discussed Paula, Marcella, and other upper class Roman ladies who were educated in the Latin and Greek poets and the Bible, and at least some of whom decided to learn Hebrew so that they could chant the Psalms in the original language. A more thorough discussion of the Roman education system of that day would have helped to make more sense of both Jerome's and the women's lives.

   Similarly, Kelly provided fairly limited information about monasticism in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and about the siege of Rome in 410.

   However, if Kelly had included background material to explain fourth and early fifth century Rome, Antioch, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, desert fathers and mothers, and the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, he would have produced a book of at least the length of Peter Brown's biography of St. Augustine or Homes Dudden's 2 volume biography of St. Ambrose. Whether there would have been a market for another such lengthy biography of a fourth century saint is uncertain.

   Kelly's work is complete and detailed in covering information unique to Jerome. The absence of background material is not disappointing if it is read together with - or after - other authors who have covered that background. Some of these can be found in Kelly's detailed footnotes. Others include biographies of other fourth century church fathers, including Peter Brown's biography of St. Augustine and Homes Dudden's biography of St. Ambrose. Other helpful sources of background information include recent books about desert monasticism, such as Joseph Patrich, "Sabas, Leader of Palestinian Monasticism: A Comparative Study in Eastern Monasticism, Fourth to Seventh Centuries" (Dumbarton Oaks Studies, No 32, 1995).




4. It is sad to say that there are not very many studies covering the life and works of St Jerome in the English language. However, the author of this work, J.N.D. Kelly, has done much to fill this disappointing void. Jerome: His Life, Writings and Controversies, is a detailed work that shows Kelly's profound knowledge of early church doctrine and polemic. Anyone who possesses this work will have in possession nearly everything significant to the life of St Jerome and also of the Church during the late fourth and early fifth centuries.



5. I purchased this book for my twenty-three year old son for a gift, and he absolutely loved it.

3 comments about Zen and the Bible.

1. This book was written by a priest (from The Society of Jesus), [...]
   
   Mr. Kadowaki was exposed to the spiritual aspects of Zen Buddhism in his early days and when he became a priest, he is able to effectively apply his Zen knowledge and experience to his Christianity practise.
   
   However, Christians, Catholics or Buddhist who are fundamentally dogmatic about their own practise would have a hard time learning from this excellent spiritual book.
   
   I look forward more books such as "Bible and Zen", "Islam and Bible", "Bible and Islam", "Vedas and Bible", etc.
   
   What a wonderful life.
   
   With metta. Rex.



2. As Zen practitioners know, religious practices (carya) must emphasize the body's posture. In zazen one needs to remain erect, regulating one's breath and ordering the mind. It is not enough to remain in a lazy state, without any thoughts in order to transcend the world. What matters is the so-called DOKUSAN, or personal chat with one's teacher. What is being sought is KENSHO, which consists in being able to see into one's nature. One needs to transcend dualistic mentality. Koans cannot be solved through discursive reasoning. In Zen koans are foundational. The author cites 5 types of koan, the solution of which generates a great inner calm and happiness. They are like a sword that kills and that gives life. One needs to experience the MU which is the Original Face (true Self). MU must not be understood in a nihilist way, nor in a dualist way. It is the Buddha-nature.
   GONSEN: a koan that studies the words of the patriarchs, leading the student to understand its deep meaning, which he then needs to render in his own words.
   HOSSHIN: (dharma-kaya) koans that help one see with greater clarity into the un-differentiated world of his substantial being, which he has understood in the enlightenment.
   KIKAN: a koan concerning the bonds of differentiation. The student looks into the un-differentiated world of his true self and then comes back to understand the differentiated everyday world.
   We need to listen to Jesus' words with our Hara
   Practitioners must:
   1)Meditate 5 hours a day
   2)Pray even when they don't feel like it (agere contra) and especially in every unfavorable circumstance
   What I found interesting was the comparison between a sesshin and a week of Ignatian exercises.



3. I read this book while on a Jesuit spiritual retreat and absolutely loved it. It's not a book not about the bible or about zen but about both and how the author's practice of Zen is able to deepen his Christian understanding and faith. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has an affinity toward both and a good model as to how incorporate both practices and teachings into one's life.

5 comments about Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind.

1. John Marks is an entertaining, readable author. As an evangelical I truly enjoyed his fresh perspective on my faith. Reasons to Believe is an anecdotal story of Marks' personal journey as he re-investigates the beliefs of his youth. The stories he tells are at times nostalgic, horrifying, solemn or idiosyncratic, but they are consistently interesting. He has a much deeper, clearer insight into the evangelical mind and evangelicals' interaction with modern American culture than I expected to find. His stories about his youth and his extended family are fascinating. The sketches of the individuals in the book piqued my curiosity, and often made me wish that I knew them personally (I do know the McWhinneys personally).
   
   One of the most surprising facets of the book is what Marks' does not get right. I attend Denton Bible Church, one of the churches that Marks' highlights in his book. He recollects that on the Sunday he attended our church the pastor Tommy Nelson "stepped forward in a long maroon robe". I have attended Denton Bible since 1992 and I have not once seen Tommy wear a robe; including the Sunday that Marks' cites. I remember that Sunday clearly because of the announcement of the death of the McWhinneys son. Did Marks' simply remember this incorrectly? He does not seem to be the type of author to get his facts twisted so I am really at a loss to know what to make of it.
   
   Marks' also gets some of the scriptural details wrong. Most notably in his chapter "Submission" he writes, "King David's father Saul refused to submit, and he was utterly destroyed". This is not a minor detail to get wrong because major portions of several Old Testament books detail the life of David: that he was the youngest son of Jesse, that he was sent to serve in Saul's court, that he was best friends with Saul's son Jonathon, that he was given Saul's daughter, Michal, in marriage, that he spent years running from Saul as Saul sought to kill him, and finally that Saul and all of his son's were killed in battle against the Philistines. Apparently, neither Marks' nor his editors are familiar with any of these stories.
   
   Marks' reacts at a visceral level to the evangelical position on homosexuality. He has a very good friend that is gay so the issue is very personal to him. Still, I was surprised at the amount of space in the book devoted to the topic. Homosexuality is obviously a huge divider in our society. Both sides are too quick to use inflammatory rhetoric and too slow to understand the other. I wonder if Marks' ultimate rejection of Christianity doesn't stem as much from this issue as from his professed trouble with a God who allows bad things to happen.
   
   Of the people that Marks' profiles in his book, the one that seemed to make the biggest impression on him is David Barton. Barton and his organization, Wall Builders, preserve documentation showing the religious influence on the founding and early years of our nation. Barton apparently travels far and wide educating individuals and showing the physical documents that prove the presence of faith in early America. Marks' believes that Barton is influential in the evangelical community, and fears that influence. Marks' fears faith based politics, "not only because I know that enormous numbers of Americans will never, ever accept such a politics, just as I know that these conservative Christians have not and will not accept a fully secularized politics. And this realization brings me to the heart of my dread, that an incompatibility in the body politic of such grave proportions will only ever resolve itself through a massive act of violence that will make any talk of spiritual warfare seem quaint indeed." Wow! Of what kind of violence does he think evangelicals are capable? This just floors me.
   
   While Marks' journey examines many facets of modern evangelicalism, he fails to come to terms with the person of Jesus Christ. Did his search have any hope of success at all? Reasons to Believe brings to mind the medieval philosopher Anselm's formulation, "Nor do I seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe that I may understand. For this, too, I believe, that, unless I first believe, I shall not understand." Ultimately, Marks' fails to believe and he fails to understand.



2. After a polite Jehovah's Witness came to our door recently and we politely declined his message, my wife wondered if he thought we'd be damned. John Marks asks himself the same question. The book's subtitle {"One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind"} indicates his investigation into his teenaged embrace of, his young adult rejection of, and his mature return to investigate those who practice a born-again Christian faith. He holds out, unable to reconcile the demands of submission with the caprices of a god who witnesses abundant evils committed in as well as in spite of a loving god's name.
   
   Powerful themes, and Marks as a veteran journalist takes them on boldly yet sensitively. The book, as he tells us early on, was one he's been waiting his whole life to write, and it shows. As he's only two years younger than me, I admit my own interest piqued as his own tastes in rock and his own pop culture connections often intersected with mine. And, any author who cringes at the thought of a heaven full of music in the key of Chicago or Blood, Sweat & Tears-- not to mention a preacher's promise of paradise full of ourselves acting like "five year olds"-- gains in credibility as far as I'm concerned. Like him, I favor the sounds and the example of Billy Zoom of X much more!
   
   While the publicity for the book pushes the saved-or-damned conundrum, most of Marks' study's far less dramatic. He's not criticizing the right of people to have a faith that condemns people to hell if they are not baptized and accepting of Jesus as their own savior (he finds such an element, according to the Barna polls he cites, if taken seriously at levels of committment to be only about 7-9% of the U.S.) but the right of such a bloc "to assert their belief as a national religion." (16) "Can a pluralist democracy absorb and support an exclusive, nonpluralistic belief at the heart of its system?" (16) Although the extension of such an argument falls outside the book's scope, the dangers of fundamentalist surety or evangelical righteousness certainly connect with movements far greater in numbers in the rest of the world.
   
   Marks wonders if he's betraying himself if he gives in and returns to the comforting "call" that moved him as a younger man. He weakens if barely, but determines as the narrative progresses to remain true to himself, as a committed secular student of a phenomenon he examines from a skeptical yet respectful distance. His dual identity as one who knows the insider's lingo yet stands apart from accepting it actually increases his ability to talk to believers, who understand that Marks will not distort or misunderstand or betray what they share with him about the challenges of their faith.
   
   His father, when his teen son became "saved," predicted "You just wait. It starts with this, and it'll end up with him not believing in God at all." (230) Marks makes much of his own very comfortable suburban Dallas roots, and shows how his family's roots lie in a mainstream Protestantism which has been eroding under the triple assaults of three disparate movements, the fundamentalists now under retreat, the evangelicals gaining, and the Pentecostals flourishing. His research reminds us that contrary to media stereotypes, fundamentalists and evangelicals remain distinct, and he explains why the latter's more emotional style fits better with the megachurches and outreaches of millennial American attitudes.
   
   His book, however, in following such trends does often bog down in interviews, recounting dutifully conversations with pastors and workers without much verve. Chapters on post-Katrina church efforts, homosexuality, his stint in Germany that led him as a college student away from his faith, the Christian music scene, or the Young Life youth movement are all informative, but rarely rise above that function. There's a lot of quotes that remind you more of an extended feature by a reporter in a newspaper series rather than a book that ties its threads together more tightly. Towards the end, a few of these strands turn up again and connect, but much of the pace slackens for long stretches, dulling interest and goading you as a reader to wait for Marks to recount his own story to perk up the cultural or personal relevance again. Too many of these pages kept me restless, and chapters often end suddenly or on the off-note of hesitation. He speaks often of his own doubts and uncertainties, past and present, and here's when he's strongest. The book combines reportage on the religious scene with some history, some sociology, and some theology, and ultimately, Marks uses the book to work out his own guilt at "losing" his faith and reclaiming his humanist creed, shaky a substitute it may be, as more honest for him.
   
   "I had 'lost' my faith, in that I had wanted to keep it, but couldn't sustain it. The world laid out by the Bible, the reality of it, just seemed to nullify with the years, taking one blow after another till I could no longer hold on. I had seen human cruelty that sank my ability to buy the idea of a sovereign ruler of the universe. The faith didn't help me to understand; it closed off avenues for knowledge." (252) In his interviews with such Christians as Niki missionizing in Iraq, Colonel Birdwell surviving 9/11 at the Pentagon, Daniel at Biola, or his guide Don, Marks takes great care to present these people as having earned our respect, as being tested greatly by the God they love, while Marks insists upon his own autonomy from their faith that impels them to draw him into their closed circle of the elect, according to their inerrant reading of chapter and verse and their strict standard of salvation.
   
   Finally, as when Marks places his own existentialist (he does admire Kafka's "The Castle") views against those of a believer who saw her husband and her fellow missionaries die in Iraq on a clandestine missionary foray, he arrives at a irrevocable truth both Christians and humanists may shrink from, even though it is the logical outcome. Honesty demands he says what he thinks. Niki's sacrifice of her husband and brethren in spreading news of God gains her a reward in heaven. As Marks does not believe in God, he will drop into everlasting torment. Or, she's deluded, having gone from her dream into reality-- a hostile land where her good news was despised and her friends and spouse were murdered. Her loss remains unredeemable, her sacrifice is based on a lie.
   
   Marks concludes: "These two interpretations are incompatible. They are mutually opposed translations of the same original text and cannot be squared. Their two hells cannot coexist. If one is true, the other must be false. Or both are false, and the truth of existence lies elsewhere. Theoretically, we are free to choose, But I suspect that Niki McDonnall will stick by her story. The question is whether I stick by mine." (197)
   
   Marks raises many such uncomfortable issues. Those on homosexuality, women who fear men, and roles of youth at camps all could have earned even more attention. Most of all, I would have liked more discussion about the ties between evangelicals and Jews. As Marks' wife and son are Jewish, Marks' own consideration of his eternal fate intersects intimately with his family. This poignant and disturbing relevance of the talk of dispensations and being "under heavy conviction" and being left behind at the Rapture before meriting, if one holds out, endless suffering certainly deepen the impact of Marks' study. He holds back somewhat, I sense, from fully delving into the complicity of some Christians with the cause of Zion as the manifestation of the End Times simply because the realities that such alliances mask prove too eerie.
   
   A few errors have been remarked upon by other Amazon reviewers. I add that Texas "Catholic" University's likely from the context of its graduate before and after college to be "Christian;" Meister Eckhardt does not have an "e" after the "k;" on an "October day" in Prague's Jewish cemetery it'd be impossible that a "Jewish holiday, Sukkoth or Purim, had shut the place down." (352) The former commemoration, yes; the latter feast that takes place in January or February, no!
   
   Marks rarely indulges in his own philosophizing, being at heart a direct writer for all his learning, but he hits the target: pulling at our loyalties are a pair of "great forces." Memory tugs us back "to our childhood, our roots, our homeland, our God. Desire flings us forward, to our future, our mate, our children, and, sometimes, to our death." He fights reductionism, but stays "certain that every human being lives on some kind of the line between these two poles and finds a balance, or doesn't, at one end of the other of a spectrum." (266)
   
   He wonders in the final pages-- looking ahead past the 2008 election and a shift away from the "politics of faith" at least in the White House-- if such a desire as many have for the apocalypse filters into a "death wish for the world." He ponders evangelical panic at the declining acceptance of "bible-true" faith collides with technologies alternately denigrated by many Christians and embraced by many "dispensationalists" who wish to use them to hasten annihilation by "spiritual warfare." The victims of such divinely-guided wrath (nothing personal as his "saved" neighbors assure him), would be the likes of Marks, his family, and the majority of the people left behind on earth.



3. As a lapsed evangelical who has recently left the fold, I'm probably still too close to the subject to be objective about my experience. Indeed, some traumatized former evangelicals, like author Frank Schaeffer, may never be able to write dispassionately about the Church (as demonstrated in his recent book "Crazy for God"). However, John Marks has gotten to the point where he can rationally revisit the evangelical Christianity he abandoned long ago, and in this fine book he takes us along on his journey.
   
   In the introduction an evangelical married couple asks the author if he will be "left behind," an allusion to the popular Christian book series about the End Times. In other words, is Mr. Marks condemned to eternal separation from God? He teases out this question all though "Reasons to Believe," and finally answers it on the last page. But not before we follow him as he visits various churches (mega and otherwise), checks out the Christian music scene and homeschooling movement, considers the possible theological fate of his Jewish wife and gay friend, and reexamines his own past when he was a youthful true believer.
   
   One of the things I appreciated about "Reasons to Believe" was that it lived up to its title. If you read my review of "Crazy for God," you might discern that I'm still a bit sensitive about my former Christian walk, much like someone who has finally left a long-term abusive relationship. However, there had to be some goodness in the Church for me to have stuck around for over twenty years, and Mr. Marks reminded me of that truth. He encounters grieving families who lovingly stick together and retain faith in the face of unexplainable tragedy, mixes with intelligent believers who have a strong sense of community and purpose, discovers ministries that reach out to anyone in need regardless of their belief system, and experiences sublime moments of joyful worship. To this day, I miss these elements of Christianity.
   
   Of course, there had to be reasons to leave as well as reasons to believe, and the author digs into those as well. He uncovers the Church's obsession with sin management and avoiding the appearance of evil, ruminates over the problem of suffering, reveals the persecution of those who don't tow the doctrinal line, and highlights the hypocrisy of leaders who live double lives and can't measure up to their own fire and brimstone sermons. As with me, the doctrine of hell angers the author, especially when family members and close friends would be condemned to eternal suffering and separation from God for no other reason than failing to follow a particular theological bent. I'm with Mr. Marks in my distain for such an infernal idea and I had no problem walking away from this, and the other aforementioned negative aspects, of the Church.
   
   So...will Mr. Marks be "left behind?" At the conclusion of his journey he takes his stand, and it's one that I can empathize with. I recommend reading "Reasons to Believe" along with Frank Schaeffer's somewhat more polemic book "Crazy for God" and "God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer" by Bart D. Ehrman to gain fascinating and controversial insights on faith, doctrine, and Christianity from former evangelicals.



4. John Marks is very fair, and does a great job in making human those who are religious. He lets them speak, and respects their views entirely. He simply does not buy the message.
   
   The Barna study, something I had not heard of, was very illuminating and thematic throughout. It illustrates the many schisms and types of Christians within Christianity. Most of my family, and my wife's family are Christian. But 20% or 9% of Christians, depending on how you define it, would only say they are nominally Christian. Most Christians in America are tolerant, and their belief in Christianity guides them. They are tolerant and do not wear it on their sleeve. They try to use Christian philosophy, but are not judgmental, and accept, say, homosexuality or do not seem so worried about hell and saving people. Then there are the Christians who condemn everyone, and do not seem to wonder how they are becoming more and more of a minority.
   
   I agree with Marks' conclusions, and thought especially powerful his passage where he compares two ways to value or give purpose to Nikki McDonall's life. She is the missionary who lost her husband and a hand in Iraq. While I think Christians, and religious people gain joy and comfort from their belief. Living for a mythical afterlife is a waste of time, and neutralizes the good a person can do, but also can make others better. It's not universal one way or the other.
   
   Marks' main reason for not believing, namely, the fact God allows atrocity, is something I disagree with. Some Christians defended this by saying God makes up for it in the afterlife, and this has logic. I think the best reason not to buy religion is because they have the imprint of man. This is the case with Zeus or the Sun God, and most people can agree, but it is rather strange why this is not so easy for the masses to see concerning the more widely believed religions.
   
   Marks asks in the opening pages a very good question that most Christians have, and I paraphrase: How can so many people not believe in Christ when the signs are unmistakably clear?
   
   Marks gives a very solid answer.



5. I had completely inappropriate expectations when I found this book - thinking that it was an exploration of rational justifications for the existence of God. It's actually a very personalized examination/expose of Protestant Fundamentalism/Evangelism in the US.
   
   Despite that, I gave Mr Marks a chance and was soon drawn in to his story. Marks has a very good balance of fact and anecdote; and for the most part, the book is well-paced and well-structured. Some of the chapter transitions are awkward, but overall it's very readable. Marks writes with empathy about the folks who shared their faith with him, and it is easy for the reader to appreciate each person's personality and sincerity. Marks exposes his own story gradually, fairly effectively piecing together a picture of who he is and how he's come to this crossroads.
   
   As to the content... as an investigative piece, it's extremely interesting. Marks' background meant that folks opened up to him in a way that they probably would not do for an avowed atheist, hard core skeptic, or journalist. That he chose to collect this information while he was at a point of questioning the existence of his own faith gave him an uncommon opportunity to report from "the inside". He lets each of the faithful do their best to bring him back to the fold, and he presents their position so sympathetically that it's hard to tell which camp he's in for most of the book.
   
   That said, Marks seems to be operating from a problematic premise. He believes that he must make a conscious choice to "believe", and so is compiling worthwhile "reasons to believe." His approach is to explore why some of the most devout Christians in the U.S. believe. Of course, faith seems by definition to not be a rational choice, so what Marks actually has is more like a collection of how these uber-faithful practice their faith, and how it frames their lives. As a guidebook for someone questioning their own faith or lack thereof, I would not recommend this book.
   
   But if you want a non-judgmental, non-confrontational (and therefore, presumably more honest) presentation of how a lot of Protestant Evangelicals are viewing the world, and how they're likely to act on it, this book is totally worth the read.

2 comments about The Father of the Little Flower: Louis Martin (1823-1894).

1. After reading both this book and the biography of his saintly wife, Zelie, it is no wonder St. Therese soared to such heights. If you are a husband and father, this book would be a great inspiration to you and you could find no better model to emulate. Louis Martin was many things all at once: a gentleman, protector, courageous leader, and a man of great faith and prayer. I thorougly enjoyed learning about the Little Flower's amazing father. (Note: the book is written by St. There's sister, Celine, so the accuracy is reliable.)



2. I think this is a spiritual classic. It is no wonder that they were the parents of one of the greatest saints in our Chruch's history. What I loved abou he and his wife is that they led simple but deeply spiritual lives. Elaine

2 comments about Paul's Early Period: Chronology, Mission Strategy, Theology.

1. Riesner contends (and rightly so) that the interpreter's view of the chronology of the early church will influence how the interpreter understands the theology of the early church. With this thought in mind, Riesner seeks to define, with as much supporting evidence as possible, the early chronology of the church, which is essentially a chronology of the early ministry of the Apostle Paul.

   Riesner begins by surveying contemporary scholarship's contributions (and confusions) over the chronology of Paul's ministry. Two groups in scholarship emerge. One group suggests that Acts is essential to developing a correct chronology of Paul's ministry. Acts is able to do so, since it is essentially accurate in historical details. A second group tries to do with Acts, since Acts (in their view) is essential inaccurate concerning historical details. Riesner points out that nearly everyone depends, at least at some point, upon details in Acts.

   Riesner recognizes a problem in the chronologies proposed in the literature he surveys: often one or two `absolute dates' are given, and the rest of the chronological details follow from those few established dates. In the next section Riesner seeks to go point-by-point through a chronology of the early ministry of Paul, discussion the evidence at each point for particular events in Paul's life and ministry. He is wary not to merely fit a date into a chronological scheme without providing good support for that date independent of other chronological markers (if possible).

   Riesner interacts with both conservative and non-conservative literature. The bibliography is massive (80 pages, with approximately 30 sources per page!), and footnotes in the volume indicate that Riesner is, indeed, familiar with the literature. He acknowledges that Acts must be used as an historical source for reaching conclusions concerning a chronology for Paul's ministry. As one example where he isn't afraid to reach a conclusion typically reserved for conservatives, Riesner accepts the South Galatian view for the destination of the letter to the Galatians.

   In this review's opinion, Riesner has admirably accomplished his purpose. He has constructed a well-supported chronology of Paul's early ministry. This work is only for the serious student or scholar-it is not light reading! Riesner expects that the student knows Greek and other languages, though the work can be read profitably by English-only students. This work is a must-read for New Testament professors and any seminary students doing work on the chronology of Paul's ministry. Without doubt, this book earns a five-star rating.

   Glenn L. Weaver glweaver@mninter.net Adjunct Professor, Central Baptist Theological Seminary




2. Riesner's work is very helpful in the study of Pauline chronology. There are several reasons to buy this book: 1) his clear survey of chronological constructs by other Pauline scholars, 2) his thorough bibliography, 3) his excellent treatment and background study of numerous events in Paul's early ministry, and 4) the clarity, thoroughness, and balance of his arguments. Riesner sets a new standard with this study, and it is very high. It ought to be utilized by all involved in Pauline studies.