Kneeling With Giants: Learning to Pray with History’s Best Teachers

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Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History's Best TeachersSummary: A look at 10 different forms of prayer through  biographical sketches.

There are so many books on prayer.  As Evangelicals have started paying more attention to historical theology, church history and church practices of other streams of Christian faith there is a need for books like Kneeling with Giants to help us understand the value of prayer practices that we may not be as familiar with.

Gary Hansen takes his experience teaching prayer practices to seminary students and melds it with good church history.  In many ways the actual information is not much different from what has been presented in other books, like Richard Foster’s Prayer.  But this book will appeal to those that like their history in biographical sketch.  Foster can be a bit heady at times.

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Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julie Child by Bob Spitz

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Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia ChildTakeaway: Julia is one of the most fascinating women of the 20th century.

Julia Child is one of those fascinating characters that gives me hope that I may not be spinning my wheels in life.  She got married late, didn’t really learn to cook until her late 30s.  Did not start writing her first cookbook until her early 40s.  Was first on TV when she was 50. (And she was a woman that was 6′ 3″.)

But Julia Child has had a lasting effect on food and culture and TV and even the idea of celebrity.

I did not come to this book cold.  Several years ago after watching the movie Julie and Julia I read Julia Child’s memoir/biography My Life in France. My Life in France was written at the very end of her life by her nephew based on interviews and discussions with her.  It was not published until after her death but it feels more like a memoir than a biography.

Dearie is a full biography written by Bob Spitz, nearly twice as long as My Life in France.  I was glad for the extra details on her early and later life.  Stylistically, this is a very narrative biography, similar to Laura Hillenbrand‘s Unbroken.  It is not hagiography.  Julia is presented as being quite amazing woman, but one that made a lot of mistakes.

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Primal Credo: Your Entrance into the Apostle’s Creed by Derek Vreeland

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Primal Credo

Summary: The Apostle’s Creed is the most basic of theological statements.  It is one that every Christian should know and understand.

With the exception of a church that I occasionally attended in college (that was right on campus so it is where I went when I woke up late), I have never attended a church that used the Apostle’s Creed as part of regular worship.

Theologically I think it is an important thing to do, just like weekly participation in the Eucharist.  Practically, like the Eucharist, I attend a church that very actively reaches out to marginal Christians and those that are exploring Christianity.  And I believe in that (read my review of Deep and Wide to understand my reasons.)

So even if I do not say the Creed every week, I do think it is something that is important for all Christians to know and understand.  Rich Mullins’ song Creed is probably the way that many Evangelicals most know the creed.  And I bet that many that know the song do not realize that it is actually the Apostle’s Creed.

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Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus #3) by Rick Riordan

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The Mark of Athena (The Heroes of Olympus, Book Three)Summary: All of the heroes have been assembled.  Now they are on the way to Rome to defeat Gaia.

I really like this extended series by Rick Riordan.  The characters are not perfect. They are average teens with extraordinary powers (like many of the readers wish they could be.)  It is literary, makes lots of references to mythology and events that are fairly advanced for the intended readers.

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Kindle Book Price Fixing Settlement

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US Dept Of Justice Seal
US Dept Of Justice Seal (Photo credit: methodshop.com)

The US Department of Justice and Hachette, Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster have settled an anti-trust lawsuit about the price fixing of kindle books. It still has to be approved by a judge, but this morning Amazon sent out an email about the settlement.  The current estimate is that between $0.30 and $1.32 per book will be credited to your Amazon account for each book you purchased between April 2010 and May 2012 (or you can request a check.)

I have no idea how much that will add up for me, but I buy a lot of books.  Because this is a suit by the Dept of Justice and not a class action suit, the majority of the settlement will not go to lawyer fees.

Here is the compete text of the email that I received:

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A Shot of Faith (to the Head): Be a Confident Believer in an Age of Cranky Atheists by Mitch Stokes

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A Shot of Faith (to the Head): Be a Confident Believer in an Age of Cranky Atheists

Summary: A readable look at the philosophy of reason and human inquiry.

A common frustration in arguing with someone about, well, anything, is the problem of different assumptions and conflicting foundational beliefs””especially when we aren’t even aware they are in conflict. I tend to want to address the underlying issues first, to distill them down to their fundamental essence. Mitch Stokes does exactly that in what is basically a layman’s summary of the work of well-known Notre Dame philosopher Alvin Plantinga.

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A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel

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A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic NovelI am a fan of Madeline L’Engle.  I re-read the whole five book Wrinkle in Time series last year and several of her young young adult books from the late 40s.  I have not read a lot of graphic novels but I am very tempted to buy this new A Wrinkle in Time graphic novel.

Think Christian had a very positive review of it this morning.  And Boing Boing was also favorable about the adaptation in a post last week.  LA Times did a nice article about it with some graphics of the pages.

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Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

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Peace Like a River

Reuben Land grew up believing in miracles. He is eleven, living in rural Minnesota in the 1960s with his father and two siblings, when his older brother Davey shoots and kills two neighborhood bullies breaking into the house at night. The day before his trial verdict, Davey escapes, and his family drives out in search of him””led by equal parts Holy Spirit and meandering intuition.

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