All Consuming : Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst

A story about "A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 03:44:54 GMT

A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey

by Clyde E. Fant

I was compelled by my Archaeology professor to read 300 pages in this book, which I did—putting my entire summer reading list on hold in order to do so. These conditions are hardly favorable to a balanced review. However, with the modicum* of fair-mindedness left in me, I admit this text is in a class of its own; it melds practical navigational help with a wealth of archaeological and historical detail.
The book is arranged in chapters pertaining to each city of note, i.e., Antioch, Bethany, Cana, etc. No locations are overlooked. And suffice to say, each chapter is so detail-rich that I digested only the historical and biblical overviews and speed-read the site specifics at about 5 seconds per page. (Don’t tell my professor.) Where the book ventures into theological/historical commentary, it sometimes lapses into liberalism, but the distraction is slight. This book restores a host of biblical sites to vivid life. Despite the coercive nature of my journey, Fant and Reddish’s Guide is the top contender in a crowded field.

A story about "Saint Augustine's Childhood: CONFESSIONES BOOK ONE (Testimony, Bk 1)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 17:58:56 GMT

Saint Augustine's Childhood: CONFESSIONES BOOK ONE (Testimony, Bk 1)

by Augustine of Hippo

How does one “review” Augustine? In short, one doesn’t—seventeen-hundred years of history already has. It’s not a question of whether his writings are relevant today, but how much of life you’ll dedicate to reading them. Like Henry James or Shakespeare, Augustine’s brilliance is in effect timeless. This review, as a result, focuses not so much on Augustine’s thought (which justifies books) but on one translation.
I’d wanted to read The Confessions for years, and prior to jumping in, I felt compelled to evaluate the translations available. One thing emerged quickly: In terms of clout and immediacy, Will’s work was getting the buzz. I bit.
Now having read Wills’ first installment of “The Testimony,” as he translates Augustine’s title, I’m ready to add my vote to the New York Review’s take: “his translations…sizzle.” Childhood, as communicated and contextualized by Wills, flows smoothly, and the main streams of Augustine’s thought are exposed clearly. Wills’ introduction, annotations and commentary are perceptive, and thoroughly documented with complementary texts from the saint’s other writings; at the get-go, his identification of The Confessions as a long, devotional prayer is enlightening—and other comments are similarly insightful. To sum up, Wills has put in the time—extensive language work and Augustinian research (including a Penguin Famous Lives biography)—to make his translation the hands-down winner. He is a sterling frame for one of history’s keenest minds.

A story about "She: A History of Adventure (Modern Library Classics)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 23:05:38 GMT

She: A History of Adventure (Modern Library Classics)

by H. Rider Haggard

I started this book on our trip to Glacier Park, interrupted it with various required Archaeology texts, and was still able to pick it back up effortlessly when I had the time. This fact says something about Haggard’s ability to write fiction that grabs you. True, She is not “shocking” by 21st century standards, but the book does have some surprising, even hair-raising twists. The Tolkien and Lewis parallels which I’ve heard of for years (and which are spelled out in the introduction) are fascinating, and I think I would concur with many reviewers who praise She’s slightly haunting mythic quality.

However, I can’t see myself reading this book more than once—multi-readability being a trademark of classic fiction—and Haggard’s writing could use polishing. (A fact that was noted by his contemporary, Robert Louis Stevenson, who cautioned Haggard not to write “too quickly.” (Haggard stated that he ripped off She in six weeks!) Thus, while Haggard’s work was more sensational and better-selling at the time, Stevenson’s works have better stood the test of time. )

No one, including Haggard, has been able to nail down the “allegorical” nature of She, which continues to bemuse and tease… Do all men long for unavoidable, inconsolable love of a woman? Some might differ, but I don’t think so… Perhaps it is the inconsolable aspect of She that gets people, though, couched as it is in action-adventure form. We don’t expect it. The feeling catches us off guard, and we realize a thriller doesn’t normally cut so deep. Haggard’s form of inconsolable longing sticks us in a place that isn’t often probed. We don’t necessarily want a goddess/woman, who would turn out to be human after all…but we do want Someone.

Kudos to Haggard for (inadvertently) bringing up a subject that is rarely breached in fiction. This in itself relegates She to the coveted rank of “solid.”

A story about "Cold Mountain : A Novel"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 04:13:47 GMT

Cold Mountain : A Novel

by CHARLES FRAZIER

-Rookie hoopla, rave reviews, a movie deal with the star treatment. In a sense, I get it. This was Frazier’s first novel, he splashed hickory smoke and blood across 400-some pages, so real you could smell it, and grabbed the National Book Award. Wrote a #1 bestseller—and I see it. Sort of.

Frazier’s characterizations are lean but thorough, his language is in-your-face crude and still tugs at heart-strings; this is an intense, gripping book, and worth a read. Unfortunately, the philosophy is incoherent—a trait in literature that never fails to annoy.

If Cold Mountain is taken as a Civil War-era documentary, an unsparing microcosm of our national tragedy, well and good. But Frazier can’t resist crossing into philosophical speculation. The protagonist, Inman, must be considered a stoic in the modern sense, violently self-sufficient, meeting horror with resigned despair: “All the resurrection any man might expect was…to be dragged dead from the grave at rope’s end” (p. 397). Inman is a dead-earnest cynic with a gun, and the world Frazier paints is harsh and starkly material. (Ex: His dialogue, lacking quotation marks, gives conversations an understated feel, as if the words arise more from narrative circumstances than from the characters’ minds.) Frazier’s story becomes nonsensical when it marries vivid natural beauty and “cures of all sorts” (p. 418) to this mechanistic life—as if a brutal, Darwinist world occasionally dresses in pastels, and ought to be adored. Are we to fight and claw or are we to sigh and make daisy chains? Despite its romantic inconsistencies, this story is ultimately deterministic, and the ending bears this out. In some ways, Cold Mountain is like reading The Call of the Wild starring not dogs but humans.

A story about "Archaeology and the New Testament"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 20:02:21 GMT

Archaeology and the New Testament

by John McRay

McRay’s book combines technical solidity with unequaled breadth. That means that he covers a lot of ground, and hits the high points of 1st-century archeology. Occasionally he spends too much time unpackaging controversies of limited relevance, but the scope of this book makes it a solid reference text and good intro to the science.

A story about "A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 19:53:51 GMT

A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey

by Clyde E. Fant

I’m told this is the best book going in regard to “on the ground” Holy Land sites: Personable writing style and technical excellence, even if the theology is overly liberal. We shall see…

A story about "Seasoned With Salt"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 02:53:26 GMT

Seasoned With Salt

by David Roper

This was one of those Christmas gift books you debate whether to open before reselling or (worse yet) giving away. But Roper quoted George MacDonald on the first page of his preface, and I determined to give the book a shot. What emerged was solid and insightful. Roper has a pastoral heart and a knack for drawing sound applications from his texts. Groundbreaking analysis of Elisha’s character was lacking, sidelined in favor of observations drawn from various episodes of the prophet’s life. However, the exegetical/inspirational results are hardly space-filler.

A story about "Back When We Were Grownups : A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 02:45:59 GMT

Back When We Were Grownups : A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

by ANNE TYLER

The Jane Austen reference on the back cover drew me in, and I can’t say I’m disappointed. Enjoying Emma and Persuasion seemed somewhat counterintuitive at the time, and Grownups was similar, only more so. What had I to do with a fat, widowed older woman? Not much, really, but I still cared about her. That’s the genius of Tyler’s writing: characterization, dialogue, and motives spun with nuanced authenticity that convinces you without seeming to try. The conversations were so good I didn’t notice them. Likewise, the central premises, deftly developed. Has Rebecca become a person she doesn’t like? Domestic drama is seldom this fascinating.

A story about "Back When We Were Grownups : A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 23:47:39 GMT

Back When We Were Grownups : A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

by ANNE TYLER

My wife recently read this, and in a fit of post-final exams euphoria, I dove in. The Jane Austen comparisons on the back cover made me curious. The verdict is still out.

A story about "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 22:10:54 GMT

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society

by Eugene H. Peterson

Peterson’s contemplative writings on the Songs of Ascents—Psalms 120-134—are a handbook for life on the road. The road toward Christ, that is. The spirituality Peterson espouses is dynamic, straightforward and refreshingly “un-produced.” Combine this direct approach with Peterson’s highly perceptive mind and you have a classic. Initially rejected by 17 publishers, this was Peterson’s first published work: a bracing discipleship text I would recommend to anyone.

Simply (and counter-culturally), Peterson asserts that the essence of discipleship is persistent obedience.

A story about "The Death of Ivan Ilych And Other Stories"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Sat, 28 May 2005 19:56:50 GMT

The Death of Ivan Ilych And Other Stories

by Leo Tolstoy

So much modern fiction is soft—somewhat trivial—playing with words, toying with minutia to evoke a chuckle, a brief adrenalin rush, a momentary impression of psychosis or a sentimental sigh. However else you might describe today’s short stories, “epic” would be rarely be appropriate. Contrast Tolstoy. His stories have hard contours and rough edges. Read them and you bleed. In this case, he doesn’t line out coffee preferences and analyze Ivan’s interior design preferences. Even Tolstoy’s short stories have a vastness of theme; in less than a hundred pages, panoramic life springs out toward the horizon. No elegant bubblegum here. To say that Ilyich and Master are death stories with a twist is as much as I’ll venture.

A story about "Roasterie coffee: Dark Line Voodoo Blend"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Sat, 28 May 2005 15:45:05 GMT

Roasterie coffee: Dark Line Voodoo Blend

Kansas City has this premiere coffee company, The Roasterie. The Dark Line is their series of bittersweet blends, roasted to perfection. It seems totally worth it to mention that I’m drinking Roasterie coffee and not some other brand…

A story about "Orthodoxy"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 25 May 2005 01:33:17 GMT

Orthodoxy

by G. K. Chesterton

After a period of anticipation spanning several years, I finally dipped into Chesterton proper. I’d read The Man Who Was Thursday in the past, but was still unprepared for Orthodoxy’s ingenuity. If the mind is a think-tank, then some authors merely ruffle the surface. Chesterton thrashes up the depths. He’s an original thinker, mixing doses of hilarity with measures of sheer brilliance. He leaps from theme to theme and metaphor to metaphor with such speed and exuberance it’s sometimes hard to keep up.

Having done my best, however, I believe this book will be formative. Chesterton’s visions of God’s mirth, of the earth as salvaged from a wreck, of the imaginative soul, of the dead endings of mere systems of thought—and the high-spirited mode in which he expresses it all—are unique to him. The closest I come is Lewis, who readily admitted the influence of Chesterton in his own conversion. This is a book to be read, then read again, mined for insight, pencil in hand. Needless to say, a Book a’ da Year bid is already pending.

A story about "Shroud for a Nightingale"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 25 May 2005 01:33:17 GMT

Shroud for a Nightingale

by P.D. James

Feeding a growing James addiction, I read this book during exam cram-breaks. Book number four in the Dalgliesh series provided additional insight into Adam’s principled nature. Dalgliesh also reveals a driven-ness and vulnerability not as visible in previous novels; we see him through the eyes of a sneering subservient and disgruntled suspects. Of course, I have yet to read a single book consecutively, so who knows what developments I may have missed—especially in books two and three. I continue to appreciate the authenticity of James’ work, even though I generally fail to do it full mental justice. This time around was no different, with finals bearing down. Maybe next time; and there will be a next time.

A story about "A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-H"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 25 May 2005 01:33:16 GMT

A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-H

by Brian D. McLaren

Self-proclaimed “provocative, mischievous and unclear” book succeeds on all counts. McLaren brings to the table a paradigm-breaking approach to the “Christian” institution, which he derides, while pursuing life as a follower of Christ. Positively, this approach is eye-opening, and attempts to rise above stupid infighting. Negatively, it is overly cynical and vital nuances of meaning are lost in “provocative” generalities. I.e., is McLaren a universalist? Does he believe in Hindu-Christians? On a more general level, Does the man have a spine? Though somewhat irritating, Orthodoxy still ought to be read, preferably after reading the original Orthodoxy (G.K. Chesterton), preferably while in a “generous” mood.

A story about "This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 25 May 2005 01:33:16 GMT

This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind

by Ivan Doig

Mr. Doig could be described in two words: stolid and perceptive. He is a poetic materialist, an imaginative phlegmatic. He impresses his own character deeply into what he writes, and his values emerge from under the printed words. In Sky’s vast Montana panoramas, the people in his life appear as figureheads, each one a great entity, strong, rough-grained, durable. The keynotes of Doig’s life song—and it is poetic enough to consider a “song”—appear clearly: Independence, personal space, a knack for survival. A rough and ready brand of “making do” garners his respect and practice. Therefore, Sky has weight, it sits like a stone in a pocket, and holds a reader down. But in the end its earthiness defeats it.

For all its expansiveness, Sky is too small, and Doig’s world, replete with painstaking observation, overlooks the deep, transcendent thread that runs through sagebrush, sunrise, sheep and foothills. The glory of God is an alien concept to Doig; his magnificent capacity for straight evocative detail is ultimately shortsighted, self-contained. When he dismissively mentions “religion” (twice only, in the context of funerals), his trademark unflappability coalesces into smugness. Sky scrapes cloud, but fails to account for the infinite horizon.

A story about "Rumors of Another World: What on Earth Are We Missing?"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 25 May 2005 01:33:16 GMT

Rumors of Another World: What on Earth Are We Missing?

by Philip Yancey

Yancey’s intentional foray into skepticism attempts to lure seekers toward faith with evocative “rumors” of deity. The resulting book is conversational and thought-provoking, but something less than an intellectual or spiritual tour de force. One could level the criticism that Rumors pushes one toward “transcendence” as much as toward Christian faith, as Yancey’s evidences aren’t always singularly Christ-centered.

A story about "Phantastes"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 25 May 2005 01:33:15 GMT

Phantastes

by George MacDonald

Seldom has a book been better timed for me. As C.S. Lewis wrote, this story has “a certain quality of Death, good Death.” One gains the sense that to lose, to fall by the way, even to die—in all its range of meanings—may be in the end The Way. Because of Christ, loss is not always what it seems. An air of the unattainable runs keenly through this story. Beauties brushed, never clasped, miracles glimpsed, but not evoked—not yet. A heart’s-weight of sorrow is accrued in a careless instant; moments pace by, the heart grows grayer and wiser, and in the end more joyful. To get, to hold, to possess, in our terms, could be to miss the way, to remain in a dusty turn-off while the road winds on further and further, and I am left behind.
Sad is the man who fumbles for joy in an empty castle while Life outruns him. We should shed tears, thread the next entry, and walk on. Ahead lies deep good, undimmed and as yet inexpressible, no matter years or loss or pain. Christ defies appearances. As MacDonald ends his book, “Yet I know that good is coming to me—that good is always coming; though few have at all times the simplicity and the courage to believe it. What we call evil is only the best shape, which, for the person and his condition at the time, could be assumed by the best good. And so, Farewell.”

A story about "Subversive Spirituality"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 25 May 2005 01:33:15 GMT

Subversive Spirituality

by Eugene H. Peterson

It was a pleasure to get more inside the mind of a theologian who assigns “poems and novels” to his students in every seminary class. In this collection of articles and essays, Peterson affirms the storied nature of revealed truth, insistently pushing for prayer and work that recognize the bigness of the gospel narrative and take their place within its ranks. The crucial pastime of a pastor, he argues, is not to “explain,” not to “exhort,” but to “make”—to render the invisible reality of God in terms so concrete that people must stumble over it or adjust their routes of travel. The church does not need more exposition; she needs more imagination.

A story about "Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 25 May 2005 01:33:14 GMT

Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship

by Colin Duriez

A highly enlightening co-biography of the two giants. Duriez, predictably, was at his best when melding the two lives; the best insights came in the relations of the two to each other, in the quirks and modulations of their friendship. Their intimacy, roughened by differences, is bittersweet. The two pillars of Christian story influenced each other intensely, even as they differed widely as to the place of the author in Christian thought. Tolkien resented Lewis’ “amateur dabbling” in theology. Lewis regarded Tolkien as somewhat dilatory and eccentric, though clever. Intriguingly, their friendship had an academic, sitting-room air to it, washed with tobacco, beer and tea, seldom exposed to the rigors of non-collegiate life; Edith, Tolkien’s wife, and Lewis were mutually uncomfortable until Lewis’ late marriage. Memorable is a conversation on page 100, where Lewis and Tolkien discuss the kind of books “we like”: “‘You know, Tollers,’ Lewis says decisively, pipe in hand. ‘I’m afraid we’ll have to write them ourselves.’” Could there be a lesson there?

A story about "A Mind to Murder"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Ariel (AJ) Vanderhorst) — Wed, 25 May 2005 01:33:13 GMT

A Mind to Murder

by P.D. James

The first true post-finals book to be devoured, Murder went down fast. I found myself wishing I’d read the books chronologically, as this, the second in the Adam Dalgliesh series, develops the melancholy, self-interrogative (some would say “human”) side of Dalgliesh which the first book merely hinted at. The story is complex, as usual, and even though I applied myself I wasn’t even near the quarry at the close. James completely threw me; the only consolation was that Dalgliesh, coincidentally, was thrown too. James has an eye for the dark commonalities of human nature, the ugly motives that could rise in almost anyone. Human darkness seemed especially evident in this book, and I put it down with mixed feelings. Depressed? Saddened? But Dalgliesh’s stern dealings with evil and his critical self-awareness imply that we can do likewise.