{"id":2588,"date":"2020-04-04T13:42:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-04T19:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicsquaremag.org\/?p=2588"},"modified":"2023-08-10T11:08:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T17:08:37","slug":"bites-of-the-best-books-april-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicsquaremag.org\/media-education\/bites-of-the-best-books-april-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Bites of the Best Books: April 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following five books contain rich insights into caring for the earth, loving each other, the false dichotomy we create of sacred and secular, the beauty of choice, and the unfathomable depth of scripture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Praise Be to You (Laudato Si\u2019): On Care for Our Common Home<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

Pope Francis<\/span><\/p>\n

Pope Francis uses a memorable phrase in this important encyclical letter from May 24, 2015: the \u201cthrowaway culture.\u201d I have been a guilty participant in it for much of my 35 years on our precious planet. I often use and consume more than I need of food, plastic cups, paper towels, tissues, water, and, yes, even books. My three little daughters have picked up on my poor habits. When we are out of a favorite snack, one of them will inevitably say, \u201cThat\u2019s OK\u2014we can buy more!\u201d Yes, we <\/span>can<\/span><\/i> buy more. But does that mean we <\/span>should<\/span><\/i>? As Francis\u2019 predecessor Pope Benedict once wrote, \u201cpurchasing is always a moral\u2014and not simply economic\u2014act.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The venerable leader of the Vatican tells us he is writing not just to Catholics but to \u201cevery person living on this planet.\u201d With this encyclical from 2015, he wants to begin \u201ca new dialogue about how we are shaping the future\u201d of this earth. Much of the book is a description of the dire circumstances brought about by pollution and waste and thoughtlessness. These include climate change and global inequality and loss of biodiversity. The last two chapters outline a way forward rooted in dialogue\u2014dialogue in the international, national and local settings, as well as dialogue between religion and science.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe time has come,\u201d Pope Francis writes, \u201cto accept decreased growth in some parts of the world, in order to provide resources for other places to experience healthy growth.\u201d In other words (just as we are learning in the COVID-19 pandemic), all of us in the Western world can get by with much, much less. And, to ensure this truth lodges soundly in the mind, the Holy Father adds this: \u201cThe mindset which leaves no room for sincere concern for the environment is the same mindset which lacks concern for the inclusion of the most vulnerable members of society.\u201d That is a powerful punch to the gut of my penchant for materialistic prodigality<\/span><\/p>\n

We are all in this together\u2014both on earth and in heaven. In the here and now, the Argentinian writes, \u201cthe best way to restore men and women to their rightful place, putting an end to their claim to absolute dominion over the earth, is to speak once more of the figure of a Father who creates and who alone owns the world. Otherwise, human beings will always try to impose their own laws and interests on reality.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And in the hereafter?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEternal life will be a shared experience of awe,\u201d the Pope writes, \u201cin which each creature, resplendently transfigured, will take its rightful place and have something to give those poor men and women who will have been liberated once and for all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God\u2019s Mercy<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

Timothy Keller<\/span><\/p>\n

The book of Jonah is one of the ten shortest books in the Hebrew Bible. Yet brevity, as Shakespeare wrote, is the soul of wit\u2014and, we might add, truth. Prolific author Timothy Keller, the well-known founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, shows us in a tiny book of his own just how remarkably relevant Jonah\u2019s life is for us today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jonah was a \u201chighly partisan nationalist\u201d and an \u201cintensely patriotic\u201d Hebrew. He was called to preach to the massive Assyrian capital city of Ninevah. Assyria was one of the cruelest and most violent empires of the ancient world. Instead of heading east to Ninevah, Jonah does the opposite\u2014he heads west to Joppa to get on a boat (full of pagans) and get as far away from God\u2019s call as possible. The Assyrians, Jonah no doubt thought, do not deserve mercy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Keller relays one biblical commentator\u2019s important insight that the Joppa sailors are, in modern terms, \u201cnon-Christians. But \u2026 the lot of non-Christians and Christians is \u2026 linked; they are in the same storm, subject to the same peril, and they want the same outcome \u2026 and this ship typifies our situation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, of course, Jonah goes to Ninevah. God says their city will be destroyed in 40 days unless they change their ways. Wonder of wonders, they listen and obey, and God withholds his judgment. Instead of joy, Jonah is outraged.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here, Keller says, we learn the need to withstand the pull to find reasons to despise other people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe book of Jonah is a shot across the bow [at our culture],\u201d he writes. \u201cGod asks, how can we look at anyone\u2014even those with deeply opposing beliefs and practices\u2014with no compassion? If your compassion is going to resemble God\u2019s, you must abandon a cozy world of self-protection. God\u2019s compassion meant he could not stay perched above the circle of the earth and simply feel bad for us. He came down, he took on a human nature, he literally stepped into our shoes and into our condition and problems and walked with us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n

Eugene H. Peterson\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You may recognize the title of this book from the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. The poem, full of metaphors for congruence, was one of several things the late Eugene H. Peterson (1932\u20132018) says helped him become a pastor after the pattern of the Christ. He couldn\u2019t help his congregation without his inner life aligning with his outer life. \u201cThe Christian life,\u201d Peterson writes, \u201cis the lifelong practice of attending to the details of congruence.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The book is a compilation of sublime sermons from Peterson\u2019s 29 years pastoring Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. The layout of the text itself is a testament to congruence. Seven sections\u2014one each for Moses, David, Isaiah, Solomon, Peter, Paul, and John\u2014with seven chapters each, for a total of 49 chapters.<\/span><\/p>\n

One memorable gem comes in his commentary on Isaiah. Peterson describes the \u201cbad habit\u201d many of us have of separating things and people into camps of secular and sacred. We label our jobs, our entertainment, our politics, and our time as secular. We give to God scripture and church and prayer and heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cProphets will have none of this,\u201d Peterson writes. \u201cThey contend that everything, absolutely everything, takes place on sacred ground. God has something to say about every aspect of our lives: the way we make our money and the way we spend it, the politics we embrace, the wars we fight, the catastrophes we endure, the people we hurt, and the people we help. Nothing is hidden from the scrutiny of God. Nothing is exempt from the rule of God. Nothing escapes the purposes of God. Holy, holy, holy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

East of Eden<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

John Steinbeck<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the several stimulating dialogues in this book that details the lives of the Trasks and the Hamiltons in California\u2019s Salinas Valley, the one central to the novel is an outstanding exposition of Genesis 4:1\u201316. Lee (a Cantonese servant of Adam Trask) describes how he and a group of Chinese elders came to a better understanding of a key phrase in Genesis 4:7. The American Standard Version has God telling Cain that \u201cif thou doest well \u2026 <\/span>do thou<\/span><\/i> rule over\u201d sin. The King James Version renders the sentence this way: \u201cif thou doest well \u2026 <\/span>thou shalt<\/span><\/i> rule over\u201d sin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lee gives us a lesson in biblical exegesis and the value of digging deeper for truth. He says he and the Chinese elders discover the original Hebrew word for those italicized phrases (he says it is <\/span>timshel<\/span><\/i>) means something very different: \u201cthou mayest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat gives a choice,\u201d Lee says. \u201cIt might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if \u2018Thou mayest\u2019\u2014it is also true that \u2018Thou mayest not.\u2019 \u2026 There are many millions in their sects and churches who feel the order, \u2018Do thou,\u2019 and throw their weight into obedience. And there are millions more who feel predestination in \u2018Thou shalt.\u2019 Nothing they may do can interfere with what will be. But \u2018Thou mayest!\u2019 Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo you mean these Chinese men believe the Old Testament?\u201d Adam asks Lee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese old men believe a true story, and they know a true story when they hear it,\u201d Lee responds. \u201cThey are critics of truth. They know that these sixteen verses are a history of humankind in any age or culture or race. They do not believe a man writes fifteen and three-quarter verses of truth and tells a lie with one verb. Confucius tells men how they should live to have good and successful lives. But this\u2014this is a ladder to climb to the stars. You can never lose that. It cuts the feet from under weakness and cowardliness and laziness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Five Books of Moses<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

Robert Alter translation<\/span><\/h3>\n

This is the first portion of Alter\u2019s three-volume, 3,000-page masterpiece translation of the Hebrew Bible. (The other two parts, of course, are the Prophets and the Writings.) This publication is the fruit of nearly two and a half decades of work. He shows us the careful intricacies and delicate rhythms of the Hebrew writers. Each page of the octogenarian emeritus Berkley professor\u2019s first volume is peppered with educational footnotes to guide us, Virgil-like, from the creation of the world up to the Israelites preparing to enter Canaan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A suitable example of the richness of his renderings is his translation of Genesis 24, verses 16 through 20. While he says most modern translators suppress the Hebrew particle <\/span>waw<\/span><\/i> (\u201cand\u201d), he retains it in every case in these verses. Why? Because it does proper justice to Rebekah\u2019s remarkable hospitality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And [Rebekah] came down to the spring and filled her jug and came back up. And the servant ran toward her and said, \u2018Pray, let me sip a bit of water from your jug.\u2019 And she said, \u2018Drink my Lord,\u2019 and she hurried and tipped down her jug on one hand and let him drink. And she let him drink his fill and said, \u2018For your camels, too, I shall draw water until they drink their fill.\u2019 And she hurried and emptied her jug into the trough, and she ran again to the well to draw water for all his camels.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Alter says other translations, such as the <\/span>Revised English Bible<\/span><\/a>, paraphrase the original Hebrew instead of representing it as it is. While Rebekah is performing essentially the same acts in the various translations, Alter says \u201cthe compressions, syntactical reorderings, and stop-and-start movements of the modernizing version\u201d make the encounter at the well \u201cseem rather matter-of-fact.\u201d This obscures that she is, in fact, \u201cdoing something quite extraordinary,\u201d Alter says. \u201cRebekah at the well presents one of the rare biblical instances of the performance of an act of \u2018Homeric\u2019 heroism.\u201d How so? The \u201csip of water\u201d the servant asks for is so much more than that. It is also a request to refresh his many camels\u2014each of which, Alter teaches us, can drink as much as 25 gallons of water. \u201cThe chain of verbs tightly linked by all the \u2018and\u2019s\u2019 does an admirable job in conveying this sense of the young woman\u2019s hurling herself with prodigious speed into the sequence of required actions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Scripture deserves this kind of careful and detailed exegesis. As you read Alter\u2019s work, you\u2019ll no doubt agree that we are deeply in debt to him for helping us better understand one of the world\u2019s most important books.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five books that contain sentences and paragraphs and pages full of unique ideas that move our minds, touch our hearts, and fill our souls with light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[471,497],"tags":[1087,88,138,155,150,144,90],"coauthors":[268],"class_list":["post-2588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-education","category-reading","tag-books","tag-catholic","tag-christianity","tag-doctrine-covenants","tag-literature","tag-perspective","tag-wisdom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBites of the Best Books: April 2020 - Public Square Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Five books that contain sentences and paragraphs and pages full of unique ideas that move our minds, touch our hearts, and fill our souls with light.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/publicsquaremag.org\/media-education\/bites-of-the-best-books-april-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bites of the Best Books: April 2020 - Public Square Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Five books that contain sentences and paragraphs and pages full of unique ideas that move our minds, touch our hearts, and fill our souls with light.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/publicsquaremag.org\/media-education\/bites-of-the-best-books-april-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Square Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-04T19:42:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-10T17:08:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/publicsquaremag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/books.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Samuel B. 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