Book Reviews

Summary: Using the book of Ruth to explore relationships as a Christian.

When I was offered this book to review, I was excited. I have read Miller’s previous book, A Praying Life, twice and highly recommend it as a practical guide on prayer.

But as much as it grieves me I had to really force myself to finish the book. Others might not be as irritated as I was, but it seemed to hit all of my major issues with Christian Living books. First, it attempts to use historical research and language study to try and establish authority and background on the book of Ruth. I am not opposed to this, strongly support this. But Miller seems to spend more time reading modern culture back onto the book of Ruth than using historical research to illuminate us modern readers. And his lack of academic skills shows through. This is reminiscent of a pastor that has a read a lot of commentaries and taken a few hebrew words and cultural concepts and pulled far more out of them than what is really warranted.

Second, Miller repeatedly over simplifies problems, which then leads to overly simplified answers. One good example:

“Our modern age creates categories…and then traps people in them. For instance if we label 2 year olds with ‘Terrible twos’ then they are no longer responsible. So when they lose their tempers they are just exhibiting the ‘terrible twos’ instead of sin in need of discipline. Labeling returns us to the rigid world of paganism which freezes everyone into a category, ethnic group, occupation or social status.”

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The Columbine High School massacre took place on April 20, 1999 in Columbine, Colorado.  It has been almost 15 years since the lives of 12 students and 1 teacher were taken, yet what this book shows is that there are still many misconceptions about what happened leading up to the massacre, what happened at the school that day, and what has happened since then.  Even though Dave Cullen, a respected journalist, is a part of the world of media, he makes it very clear that the media is, in part, very much to blame for these misconceptions.

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Summary: A very helpful book, when used rightly.

When Helping Hurts is a book that has really changed the way that many have looked at Christian social ministry and short term missions. But I have been reluctant to read it. Not because I thought it would be a bad book but because I feared how it misused. However, since christianaudio has it as the free book for February 2014, I thought it would be a good time to read and review it.

First a bit of background on me and how I am reading it. I have a Masters in Social Service Administration (like an MSW, but administratively focused.) I have been a consultant for small church based non-profits since 1997. Initially working for a denominational office, I spun off my work into an independent organization when the denominational office ran out of funding for my position.  My wife was also a short term volunteer coordinator for almost a year before we were married at the same denominational office.

So I do not come at this book ignorant of how Christians have approached social ministry or short term missions nor the current best practices for Christian ministry. I can tell you that this book (and several similar like Toxic Charity by Robert Lupton) have made a difference. Many funders and staff at non-profits have read these and really want to focus on doing the best work for the kingdom of Christ.

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The Road to Serfdom’s status as a classic of economic and political philosophy is well-deserved. Hayek makes political theory compelling as he describes the dire consequences of the schemes of central planners. An Austrian, he wrote from a unique vantage point, having spent his early life in eastern European nations that were far down the socialist rabbit hole and his later life in England when it was still committed to individual liberty and political freedom. He experienced the consequences of socialism and fascism as they matured in his country of birth, and realized while in England that the West was in the early stages of accepting the same premises and committing the same mistakes that so devastated eastern Europe.

While the writing is mostly theoretical and occasionally dry, the benefit is that it does not come across as polemical or ideological in any negative sense. If anything, Hayek is ideological in that he is driven by ideas–ideas that have had direct and disastrous consequences in front of his very eyes, and vice versa. Central planning is the height of political, intellectual and moral arrogance: The very idea that so-called experts can adequately plan an economy at a national level is patently absurd, not to mention immoral, and Hayek patiently and deliberately walks the reader through all the implications, assumptions and consequences involved. Anyone interested in true equality under the law, in freedom to organize one’s life according to one’s own principles, in genuine justice, cannot but oppose the vision of the central planners. Individual liberty, Hayek shows, must be the foundation of a free and just society.

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Summary: A Catholic understanding of the role of spiritual direction.

One of the most important reasons to regularly read outside your stream of Christianity is that the same words or concepts are treated differently because of the experience of the different stream of faith.  That difference can often spark new understanding, or at least fresh perspective on your own stream.

So I have read several books about spiritual direction, but none previous to this from a particularly Catholic perspective.  Regular readers of this blog may know that I started seeing a spiritual director early last fall.  I am still trying to work through my role in (and the full purpose of) spiritual direction.

Because this book is written particularly to Catholics (as opposed to for Christians but by a Catholic) there are some differences in perspective (no Protestant book on spiritual direction would include a section on Mary as the exemplary pathway to Jesus).  But overwhelmingly this book is helpful to both Protestant and Catholics that are interested in spiritual direction if you read it generously.

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The modern finance industry, what Dyke calls “The Casino Age,” is focused on rapid wealth using risky investment vehicles and screwing the little guy. Banks have been fined millions of dollars over the years in penalties for fraud and unethical activities, but the fines pale in comparison to the profits they earned by those actions, and almost nobody ever goes to prison, and so the abuses continue. Banks and other financial corporations have lobbied successfully to centralize most regulations at the federal level–laws that ultimately protect their rapacious, economically destructive activity and protect them from the losses that arise from speculative investments made with other people’s money.

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