Review: Between Interpretation and Imagination

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Between Interpretation and Imagination

Between Interpretation and Imagination, Leslie Baynes. Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802874009) 2025.

Summary: C.S. Lewis as Bible interpreter, vis a vis biblical criticism, the trilemma argument, and Narnia.

I am among those shaped profoundly by the works of C. S. Lewis. Mere Christianity spoke to me of the reasonableness of Christian belief as a young believer in conversation with skeptical friends. Over the years, I often used his “Liar, Lunatic or Lord” argument, also referred to as “the trilemma.” And like many, his works of fiction opened up to me the reality of a Christian imagination.

Yet like all human beings, C.S. Lewis was fallible. He discovered this painfully when bested in debate by Elizabeth Anscombe, discussing the problem of pain. Leslie Baynes, who is associate professor of New Testament and Second Temple Judaism at Missouri State University has steeped herself deeply in the work of Lewis as a scholar in residence at the Kilns as well as in New Testament scholarship. She combines these two foci to examine and critique Lewis’s engagement with scripture. On one hand, she will find numerous flaws in Lewis’s engagement with biblical scholarship. On the other hand, she will take us deep into the world of Narnia and how Lewis’s scripture-saturated imagination shows up in these stories.

The first part of the book considers what Lewis read about scripture and how this influenced him. James Moffatt shaped his ideas about the harmony of the gospels, including the very different gospel of John. Charles Gore more than anyone shaped his doctrine of scripture with his emphasis on the incarnation, how not all scripture is divine in the same way, how the Old Testament prepares the way for Christ and how Jesus, not scripture is the word of God.

The second part of the book addresses specific case studies and controversies. Lewis identified with neither the fundamentalists or the modernists. He did not, unlike the fundamentalists, consider scripture inerrant, even though he shared other common ground with them. If anything, he was more scathing in criticism toward modernists. And it is here that Baynes most strongly criticizes him as a scholar. She highlights his essay “Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism.” She notes errors of Lewis in citations, and believes he fundamentally misread Bultmann. Rather, she thinks Lewis and Bultmann may have had more in common than Lewis thought.

Then, she comes to Lewis’s “Liar, Lunatic, or Lord” argument. She observes how Lewis invents statements by Jesus found nowhere in the canonical text. Basically, she contends that Lewis’s assertion that Jesus taught that he was God overstates the case. Only in his trial does he unambiguously say this (although it may be argued that other statements infer, if not state his identity as God). She observes that the argument as Lewis states it collapses with the knowledgeable.

The third part has a very different tone. Here, Baynes takes each of the Narnia stories and explores how they reflect Lewis’s biblical imagination. She finds biblical allusions others have missed. For example, she concludes her chapter on The Voyage of the “Dawn Treader” with a chart of ten allusions to the Gospel of John and the corresponding plot element in the story. Many of the allusions are subtle, and Baynes concludes, as have others that Lewis does so to steal past watchful dragons.

Baynes concludes that Lewis’s errors were those of a theological amateur. She wishes he were alive because “he loved a healthy intellectual brawl.” She thinks there was a lot Lewis got right, including his rejection of biblical inerrancy combined with his life of loving obedience.

Baynes close reading of Lewis points up legitimate flaws in his scholarship, something academics do for each other in the service of truth. For any of us engaged in apologetic work, her critique of Lewis’s framing of the trilemma points the way to making a stronger argument. What I had wished for was more balance in affirming the strengths of Lewis’s critique against the modernists, particularly the subjective character of their judgments. On the other hand, she offered an extremely helpful “readers guide” to the Chronicles that made me want to read them again. This is Lewis scholarship that breaks new ground and reminds me of the legacy of riches he left us.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Prodigal of Leningrad

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Cover image of "The Prodigal of Leningrad" by Daniel Taylor

The Prodigal of Leningrad

The Prodigal of Leningrad, Daniel Taylor. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9798893480221) 2026.

Summary: During the siege of Leningrad, a docent who had betrayed his grandfather finds himself in Rembrandt’s Prodigal.

At the beginning of the siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), the Hermitage, one of the world’s great art museums, shipped the canvases of its collection eastward to a secret hiding place to keep them out of Nazi hands. In this work of historical fiction, the central character, Daniil, is a volunteer docent in the museum. But what does a docent do when visitors arrive but all that is left are the frames? He describes in detail the painting and the story of the artist and its composition.

The most famous of the masterworks was Rembrandt’s The Return of the Prodigal. It was the one on which Daniil spent the most time. The painting holds a personal attraction for him reflecting his dark past.

Daniil, as a newly married father back in 1920, had great hopes for his future as a university student. That is, until he was called in to be interrogated one day. His grandfather, Anatoly Ivanovich Aslanov had been a history professor who became a priest. He went underground and the authorities were seeking him, supposedly to “persuade” him to return to teaching. Daniil, in a moment of weakness, confesses that his grandfather joined the family for Christmas celebrations. They arrested the grandfather that day, sending him to the Gulag. And they still revoked Daniil’s university admission. He has carried the guilt of that betrayal all his life.

The narrative moves back and forth between the grandfather’s life in the Gulag and Daniil, mostly focusing on conditions during the siege. The grandfather sees his imprisonment as a call from God and himself as immortal until he finishes his work. Much of that is to rescue other prisoners from despair. At one point, he and another prisoner are confined in an underground confinement cell from which none had emerged alive. Yet they emerge, kept warm by God.

Taylor describes the conditions of the siege, where rations were grossly inadequate to keep people alive. Daniil and his friends Aleksandr and Lev buoy each other’s spirits. Eventually Lev succumbs to starvation and Taylor describes the agonizing journey Aleksandr and Daniil make across the city, weak themselves to bury Lev and his wife. One of the most moving (and historically accurate), moments was when Aleksandr and other musicians perform the premiere of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, the ‘Leningrad.’ They mount speakers so that the Germans can hear the performance and the spirit of defiance of those in the city.

As Daniil weakens in his own body, he keeps telling the story of The Return of the Prodigal. He begins to speak of the spiritual significance of the painting, defying the censors. But will he believe that story for himself?

Daniel Taylor weaves a story that gives an unsparing portrayal of the Soviet Union under communism–the secret police, the Gulags, the effort to exterminate belief. He also describes the heroism of both citizens and soldiers who held out for 900 days until the Germans relented. But above all, he tells the story of both a faithful priest and the grandson who struggles with what seems an unforgiveable betrayal. Taylor explores whether the light of God’s goodness and mercy can reach the darkest corners of the Gulag and the troubled soul of the betrayer.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Silence and Speaking Freely

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Cover image of "Silence and Speaking Freely" by Sabino Chialà

Silence and Speaking Freely

Silence and Speaking Freely, Sabino Chialà, Translated by John McAreavey. Liturgical Press (ISBN: 9798400803048) 2026.

Summary: A translation of two talks by a monastic prior on what it means to live in an integrity of silence and speech.

We live in a society that finds silence difficult and often speaks carelessly or hurtfully. Yet learning to practice silence to know both ourselves and God and speaking with a conscience-tested integrity are both part of authentic spirituality. In addition, the two of these are deeply connected. These are key ideas of this concise book, consisting of translations of two talks by the prior of the Monastery of Bose, Br. Sabino Chialà. Chialà draws on the monastic tradition and the writing of the Desert Fathers to reflect deeply on both silence and speech.

First, he addresses the ambiguity of silence. There are good and bad silences. In silence we may conceal fear, contempt, or deception. True silence is an openness to humbly receive. Through silence, we attend to our interior lives, to the word of God, to prayer, to discernment, to suffering, and to God, who sometimes is silent with us, or is present in our silence. But silence is a struggle, most significantly with the fear of encountering ourselves. Yet we are encouraged to persist to where God give true silence. Quoting George Bernanos, he reminds us “Keeping silent, what a strange expression! Silence keeps us.”

Then, the second talk turns to “thinking and speaking.” Chialà begins with an extended reflection on conscience, urging the recovery of its use, as the basis of our speech. Pope Francis describes conscience as “the interior place for listening to the truth, to goodness, for listening to God; it is the inner place of my relationship with the one who speaks to my heart and helps me to discern, to understand the way I must take and, once the decision is made, to go forward, to stay faithful.” One recognizes the connection between silence and the exercise of conscience. Furthermore, Chialà grounds his discussion of conscience in a biblical theology of conscience.

When we speak from a clear, discerning conscience, we are able to speak with freedom. For Chialà, this involves parrhesia, which translates as sincere, free, and truthful speech. Once again, Chialà grounds his ideas in an extensive biblical survey, culminating with Christ. Parrhesia is humble, grounded in relationship, and respectful of persons. But it is not fearful. Rather, it trusts in God.

In conclusion, Sabino Chialà offers vital reflections for living spiritual lives of integrity. Silence provides the place for us to discern, to exercise conscience before God. Out of this comes speech that is good, true, and free. In addition, the coupling of these practices forms us as people who attend to God and his Word, and out of this speak lifegiving words.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

The Weekly Wrap: May 3-9

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The Weekly Wrap: May 3-9

Thanks, Mom!

More than anyone, I owe the fact that I am a reader to my mom. She never, to my memory, encouraged me to read. Rather, she loved to read and she shared that love with me. She was diligent in her care for our home and for us. But whenever she took a break, often over lunch or in the evening, she’d be reading.

As soon as I could, I shared my books with her. I’d tell her about the latest baseball book I was reading. And she’d tell me about Taylor Caldwell or Susan Howatch or Leon Uris. And as I got older, I read some of those books as well.

We had a house full of books…and I was always free to explore the bookshelves. I can’t think of my mom censoring my reading–even when I picked up some of her racier books!

We also had a bookcase of encyclopedias. And you’d often find me camped in front of those with a volume in my lap. I’d be reading an article to learn about something that caught my interest.

It was a cruel turn that resulted in her losing much of her vision to macular degeneration in her seventies. She hung on, using magnifiers and devices as long as she could. Audiobooks were in their infancy. Having reached my seventies, it’s one of my great fears that I’ll lose my vision. Maybe I read so much to read while I can. And I’m religious about eye checkups.

However, I’ve had a life filled with the joy of reading, bookstores, libraries, and lots of conversations with other book lovers. And I owe it all to mom. Thank you for imparting your love of books to me. I’ll always be grateful. I love you, Mom, and I’ll always remember you.

Five Articles Worth Reading

If you are buying books for mom, you might be hitting the bookstore today to look for something. Here are a couple lists of recommendations you might look over. One is from the New York Times and offers recommendations by genres. Publishers Weekly offers an uncategorized list of ten books.

For some of us, we grieve mothers who are no longer with us. Simon Rogers, who has written a book on our Google searches, addresses the ways we turn to the internet for solace in “ ‘The Data Shows We’re Never Truly Alone.’ What Our Online Searches Say About Loss.“

Motherhood has also been the focus of scholarly study. So JSTOR, in “Motherhood in America: A Reading List,” offers a selection of the scholarship on motherhood.

Elizabeth Strout has a new book out. Her books are both critically acclaimed and bestsellers. I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of them. Adam Begley explores “The Secret of Elizabeth Strout’s Appeal.”

If you’ve looked at antique or fine books, you may have noticed the beautiful endpapers, made by a process called “marbling.” In “The Secret Art of Marbling” Francky Knapp takes us through the meticulous process of marbling.

Quote of the Week

Thomas Pynchon turned 89 yesterday, May 8. He was born in 1937. He warns us of one of the ways people practice the art of deflection:

“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”

Miscellaneous Musings

I often find that book awards name books I’ve never read, or even heard of. Not so the Pulitzers. Among the winners are Jill Lepore’s We the People, on my TBR and There is No Place for Us by Brian Goldstone which I reviewed last year. Here is a list of the awardees.

I tend to remember more of the music and art of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Paul Elie’s The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s explores a decade I lived through but think less of. It’s a fascinating study of artists ranging from Warhol to Leonard Cohen to Madonna and the “crypto-religious” themes that run through their lives and work.

Would you consider it worth it if you made it to the major leagues in baseball, only to play in one game. In The Cup of Coffee Club, Jacob Kornhauser tells the story of eleven players who played exactly one game in the majors. It’s a story of all they went through to get there, and how they came to terms as they realized this was their “one, brief shining moment.”

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Sabino Chialà, Silence and Speaking Freely

Tuesday: Daniel Taylor, The Prodigal of Leningrad

Wednesday: Lesslie Baynes, Between Interpretation and Imagination

Thursday: Jacob Kornhauser, The Cup of Coffee Club

Friday: Beth Felker jones, Why I Am Protestant

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap  for May 3-9.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.

Review: Emma

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Cover image of "Emma" by Jane Austen

Emma

Emma, Jane Austen. Penguin Classics (ISBN: 9780141439587) 2003 (first published in 1815).

Summary: A beautiful, rich young women with no interest in marriage makes a series of disastrous assumptions in matchmaking for her friend.

I went through most of this work viewing Emma Woodhouse as a most unlikable character–rich, class-conscious, and with an exaggerated estimate of her ability to understand others. As it turns out, that was Austen’s intent. Before beginning to write, she wrote, “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” On that count alone, Austen succeeds.

Emma Woodhouse is the younger daughter of Henry Woodhouse, a wealthy but frail (or at least he believed himself to be) and fussy old man. Emma’s mother died when she was young. Her older sister Isabella is married to John Knightly and they live in London with their five children. Emma is the lady of Hartfield, wealthy and lacking for nothing and attentive to her father. She insists she is content to remain single.

She also thinks she played an important role as matchmaker with her former governess, Ann Taylor, who marries a widower, Mr. Weston. As a married couple, they live nearby and visit regularly. Mr. Weston has a son by his first marriage, Frank Churchill, raised by his uncle and aunt at Enscombe. The latter plays a controlling role in his life, keeping him close by through her ill health. However, when he finally visits, he manages to stir up trouble.

But Emma does well enough on her own account. She becomes a mentor to Harriet Smith, who supervises younger girls at Mrs. Goddard’s boarding school. The daughter of a successful tradesman, she is attractive, winsome, but untrained in the ways of society. While boarding, she stayed for a summer at Abbey Mill Farm, at the invitation of Elizabeth Martin, one of the students. During this time, she became acquainted with Elizabeth’s brother Robert, who took a liking to her.

Robert Martin was a young, hardworking farmer, well-esteemed by those who knew him. For someone like Harriet, it would have been a good match and he proposed. Enter Emma, who has befriended Harriet. Before Emma tries to make a match for Harriet, she helps break one, influencing Harriet to believe she could do better. That is, she could marry a higher class of person. So, she turns down the match.

George Knightly thinks Emma has misguided her friend. George, who is called Mr. Knightly throughout, is a leading figure in Highbury and owns Donwell Abbey, a large estate. Abbey Mill Farm is part of the estate and so he knows and thinks highly of Robert Martin. He believes Robert would have been a good husband to Harriet. Throughout the novel, Knightly is a friend to Emma, the kind who sees more wisely than she, though it will take some time for her to accept that.

Much of the novel unfolds the successive misguided schemes of Emma to make a match for Harriet. First there is Reverend Elton, who Knightly correctly realizes wants to marry into money, which Harriet doesn’t have. Then there is Frank Churchill, who instead seems to flirt with Emma. Finally, because he acted kindly toward her, Harriet thinks Mr. Knightly might care for her, which Emma supports until she discovers that Mr. Knightly loved another.

In addition to failing her friend, the appearance of two other women give Emma her comeuppance. One is Augusta Elton, who is even more unlikable, arrogantly so, than Emma, who is gracious and pleasant if misguided. Emma gets a brutal lesson in class pretensions when she sees Harriet heartlessly “cut” by the Eltons. The other is Jane Fairfax, who arrives on the scene at the same time as Frank Churchill. She is distinctively attractive, intelligent, and a far more talented musician than Emma.

Emma is young and the novel turns on whether she will go the way of Augusta Elton or become a humbler, better person. And her insistence that she will remain single? Here as well, she will face the chance to know herself better.

The issue of class pretension runs throughout the novel, particularly in the tension between Emma and Mr. Knightly. It’s also subtle, but there is nothing spiritual about the minister, who even “comes on to” Emma during a carriage ride. He only seems concerned with status. Is Jane Austen conveying her low opinion in general of clergy?

In sum, Austen’s title character, unlikable as she comes off, keeps us wondering, and reading, to find out if she will “get a clue” that will enable her to see others, and herself, in a truer light.

Review: From Aristotle to Christ

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Cover image of "From Aristotle to Christ" by Louis Markos

From Aristotle to Christ

From Aristotle to Christ, Louis Markos. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514011324) 2025.

Summary: Considers and appraises Aristotle’s influence on Christianity and how Christian thinkers appropriated his thought.

Louis Markos is a Platonist. And it seems axiomatic that Platonists and Aristotelians are two separate tribes, even though Aristotle was Plato’s student. Yet, if one didn’t know that Markos was a Platonist, in reading this book, one would think he was an Aristotelian. After a “yearlong dive” into Aristotle, he did not convert. But he came away with a deepened appreciation of Aristotle’s contribution both to philosophy and his influence (mostly positive) on Christian thinkers.

In this book, he addresses both of these. In so doing, he gave far more insight into Aristotle than my freshman philosophy class. And he helped me see how Christians used Aristotle as they clarified what the church believed. He does this in five parts.

Part 1: How to Think Logically

First of all, Aristotle articulated what it means to reason logically. From the law of non-contradiction to the correspondence theory of truth, Aristotle lays the groundwork for both the work of Aquinas and the scientific enterprise. Catholics, rightly or wrongly, drew from his distinction of substance and accidents in their doctrine of transubstantiation of the Eucharist. Dorothy Sayers draws on him to discuss the origin of evil. The syllogism became the basis for the Kalam cosmological argument (although Aristotle would have disagreed, believing both God and the universe were eternal. Augustine’s disagreement with Aristotle’s ideas of time led to his formulation of the timelessness of God. His ideas about the relation of body and soul also influenced Aquinas, as well as Dante.

Part 2: How to Read the Heavens and the Earth

To understand our world, we must ask questions of why, of cause. Aristotle clarified four types of cause: material, formal, efficient, and final. Markos notes how science often only recognizes two of these, the material and the efficient, failing to explain how matter can organize itself. He notes how important this also is for John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. Then Markos discusses how important this is to the argument for an Unmoved Mover. Without formal and final cause, we have only infinite regress. Yet Markos also detects the weakness in this. It can lead to the static, detached God of Deism, as it did for many in the 18th century. Finally, while we reject most of Aristotle’s cosmology in light of modern science, his belief in an ordered universe was consistent with Christian belief and Augustine’s and Boethius’ ideas of providence.

Part 3: How To Behave

Aristotle’s ideas of the soul and embodied life were vital to his understanding of ethics and virtue. Aristotle understood the importance of the choices we made in the formation of our character, and our agency in those choices. He influenced thinkers like Aquinas, Dante, Donne, and Lewis. Unlike Plato, however, he could not understand the virtue in suffering unjustly, as Christ did on the cross. However, Markos also shows how deeply insightful he was on the nature of friendship and his ideas of a life well-lived.

Part 4: How to Get Along with Our Neighbors

Much of this section draws on Aristotle’s Politics, tracing the rise of the polis from the family, and identifying the forms of government. Consistent with scripture, Aristotle warned of the danger of existing without the polis. Unlike Rousseau, we are not noble savages. Markos also introduces us to Alasdair McIntyre, and his “rescue” of Aristotle from Rousseau’s ideas, and how he enlarges with a Christian understanding Aristotle’s ideas of our telos, with its hope of forgiveness, redemption, and the welcome of God in the new creation. He shows Aristotle’s prescience in his understanding of the importance of private property for human order and flourishing. Likewise, Aristotle recognized the vital priority of the rule of law in any form of government, which Markos believe of vital relevance for our own day. He traces the direct arc from Politics to the Federalist Papers.

Part V: How to Make Beautiful Things

This last section begins with the proper use of rhetoric. As Aristotle teaches, it consists in the integrity of the person (ethos), emotional force (pathos) and an appeal to reason (logos). He uses Polycarp and his final speech, facing martyrdom, as an example. He also addresses Aristotle’s ideas of poetry and tragedy, and how Christianity may extend these.

Assessment

I read a fair part of Plato’s works earlier in life. Markos’ account was so motivating that I ordered a couple of his recommended books including The Basic Works of Aristotle edited by Richard McKeon. He makes a good case for how Aristotle provide Christians the tools to articulate and defend their faith. At the same time, he shows what Aristotle failed to see, that was illumined by scripture. Finally, he shows where Aristotle may have led some astray, particularly the Deists.

Markos is a great teacher. He is clear and readable. More than that, I appreciate his effort to read, and assess Aristotle on his own terms. Finally, from Augustine to McIntyre, Aristotle has been part of the church’s conversation. So much that is part of the “furniture” of Christian belief, that we attribute to scripture, also reflects the interaction of the church’s teachers with Aristotle. Markos helps see that.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Unwinding Path

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Cover image of "The Unwinding Path" by Betany Coons

The Unwinding Path

The Unwinding Path, Betany Coons, text and illustrations. IVP Kids (ISBN: 9781514013151) 2026.

Summary: A bedtime book inviting children into quiet and rest as they follow the calming path of the labyrinth.

One of the challenges of bedtimes for young children is helping them wind down and fall asleep. Sometimes, there has been so much in the day filling their minds and hearts. Reading aloud together is one of the ways parents help children unwind and let go and get sleepy.

In this case Betany Coons has written a book that intentionally helps children enter into quiet and rest. We are invited to follow the winding path of a labyrinth, which is really an “unwinding” path. It’s a path of no wrong turns that acknowledges the “dead ends and wrong turns” of the day. As we walk, we are invited to notice and let go of the heavy things we carry. Although we climb a stairway to the entrance of the labyrinth, we begin to feel lighter. We pause at the top for some deep breaths, to listen, look, and breathe in the smells.

Then we follow a winding path, perhaps with a child tracing it with a finger. We run, feeling God in the wind all around us. Though we walk through dark places, we needn’t fear getting lost because this is a labyrinth, a single unwinding path. And we are not alone but gentle guided by the Spirit into stillness and light.

Part of the path is on water, and we float through a glade of sleeping creatures, remaining quiet so as not to wake them. We become so still we hear our hearts beat, reminding us with each beat of God’s love as we come to the heart of the labyrinth. We rest, breathe, scoop some water and feel the softness of the air and the presence of God.

Text and illustration ©2026 by Betany Coons. Used with permission from IVP Kids.

And then we follow the path out, taking the time we need. It’s like climbing into bed, covered and held by God’s love. “Breathe in. Breathe out.”

The story and the path help children, and maybe their parents, both let go of the day and surrender themselves to God’s tender care in the night. Betany Coons invites us to breathe in and out, to float and be still, and to become aware of God with us.

The calming words are accompanied with illustrations in soothing cool colors with splashes of brightness. The path allows for a slow and meandering journey as we come to the quiet center.

My hunch is that children will not be the only ones to unwind in the shared time of this bedtime story. And don’t we all need the reminder of God holding and loving us at the end of the day? I know I do.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Hints of Hope

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Cover image of "Hints of Hope" by Steven Garber

Hints of Hope

Hints of Hope, Steven Garber, foreword by Makoto Fujimura. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9798893480344) 2026.

Summary: How we might live with hope in a beautiful but broken world where even our best efforts realize only proximately our ideals.

As followers of Christ, we speak of our hope in Christ, of new life in a renewed creation. But that seems far away for many of us. In the lives we live now, we struggle with the disparity between the vision toward which we live and the present realities of living in a beautiful but broken world as beautiful but broken people. Whether we look at our marriages, our parenting, our work, our civic engagement, we find much that is good. And yet….

That “and yet” is what Steve Garber calls the proximate. Whatever good we experience in the various arenas of our lives pales before what we know things could be. Often, life is marked with failure and grief as well as joy and achievement. One of the big questions is how we might continue to live with hope and make our peace with the proximate. It is to this that Garber devotes the essays that make up this book. In the Introduction, he likens our lives to the seashells we find along a beach–all beautiful, but broken, all glorious ruins–and all seeking to make sense of our reason for being. Then in the following eight essays, he will reflect further, often coming back to the affections, the love on which our lives turn.

Garber begins with his own story, and that of his father, a plant researcher who focused on growing good, disease resistant cotton. And much good cotton was grown, yet plant diseases persist to this day. The proximate. Then Garber turns to travels through Slovakia, the writing of Vaclav Havel, and Jozef Luptak, who convened a society-wide music festival called Konvergencie. It represented an effort to curate the best of Slovak culture while many remained indifferent. The proximate. Finally, he turns to the Lord of the Rings and the amazing quest of Frodo and Sam, destroying the Ring of Power, witnessing the coronation of Aragorn, and cleansing the Shire. And yet there were wounds that only a journey to the Western lands could heal.

That’s one chapter, weaving several stories around the theme of “glimpses of hope.” Garber’s remaining chapters follow a similar pattern, mixing personal narrative, the stories of others, and reflections from literature around a theme. He weighs the question of telos, the end toward which we live, and how it shapes our praxis. In exploring our quest for meaning, he considers Douglas Copeland and his Life After God. Can we make sense of our lives apart from God?

Then follow several chapters on various aspects of what it is to love. He reflects on how, in Wendell Berry’s words, “it all turns on affection”–our families, our work, our economic life, our communal and political life. It is a question Augustine asks: “What do you love?” Then Garber goes on to consider how Hannah Arendt, Reinhold Niebuhr, Lesslie Newbigin, and Jean Bethke Elshtain answered the question. “Love in the Ruins” connects stories from around the world of those who loved amid the proximate. Finally, “A Long-loved Love” looks at love and the proximate in marriages, including Garber’s own.

The final chapters face both the wounds and scars we bear and our longing for something more. We follow Garber from Birmingham to Pittsburgh to the art studios of Makoto Fujimura, who demonstrates the art of kintsugi. Each story is one of fashioning beauty out of brokenness. Finally, he considers the something more for which we long. He tells an amazing story of the Tunyi family from Nagaland. This is a remote place bordering Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar. They are dedicated to cultivating the good for the sake of the kingdom. Their efforts range across education, healthcare, and politics, as signposts pointing to the something more. And to close the circle, Garber ends with Lewis and Tolkien.

Garber writes beautifully, evoking in the reader images, thoughts, and feelings as one reads. There is the ethos of Garber’s own life, and search for hope. Then we have the pathos of so many stories of those living hopefully while making peace with the proximate. Finally, there is also logos, as Garber in the company of great writers, invites us to consider our telos. Toward what end do we live and what do we love?

If I were to offer any critique, it would be that these reflections sometimes border on “stream of consciousness.” There are so many stories that sometimes, keeping track of Garber’s theme can be a challenge. It’s easy to get lost in his excellent prose and skilled storytelling!

So what this calls for is slow and attentive reading…and reflecting. But what that yields is so worth it. In a world that vacillates between unrealistic ideals and ideologies and deep disillusionment, living with hope in the proximate is good news. Garber sees beyond the “glittering images” to our beautiful and broken reality, and helps us live toward something more.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: A City on Mars

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Cover image of " A City on Mars" by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith

A City on Mars

A City on Mars, Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9781984881748) 2023.

Summary: A study of the complexities of human settlements in space, and whether this is as good an idea as some think.

With the recent Artemis mission, human space missions once again captured the public imagination. It put us on notice that there are well-funded entities with ambitions to settle on the Moon, and eventually Mars or elsewhere. Some have spoken of this as an alternative if climate conditions become unbearable on earth or as an “ark” to preserve human and other life if the unthinkable were to happen on earth.

Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, a scientist and a cartoonist respectively, are self-admitted space geeks. But as they have taken a hard look at the complexities of space settlement, they argue very good case for at least going slow if we do this at all. At best, they argue for this being a project of centuries–a wait-and-go-big approach. To begin, they puncture a variety of myths about how space settlement could save humanity, make us all rich, end war, and will unify us and make us wise.

Then they take a deep dive into the complexities of creating sustainable space settlements. Firstly, consider survival. Space has all kinds of ways to kill humans, both fast and slow. Fundamentally, there is the question of air, and the reality that the lack of it, even for seconds can kill. There are also a variety of longer term killers from bone and muscle loss to radiation exposure from which our atmosphere protects us. And while sex in space is possible, we do not know the effects of low or no gravity environments on human development. Likewise, what would long-term residence in a low gravity environment would mean for returning to Earth?

Secondly, comes the question of where. The Weinersmiths consider the possibilities. The Moon is close but comes with challenges. Only a few mountaintops at the poles are always in sunlight. The soil is abrasive, just to mention the most obvious problems. Mars is little better, with toxic, perchlorate soils and challenging atmospheric conditions. Then there are giant space stations, wheels in the sky. However, the size to create gravity approximating earth presents construction challenges. All the other options are far worse.

Thirdly, creating self-contained settlements has its own challenges. Biosphere Two barely pulled this off on earth. But the most likely settlements on the Moon or Mars would be underground, in lava tubes. These protect from unlivable temperatures, toxins, and radiation. But the challenge is that they have to be self-sustaining for long periods, from oxygen generation to food and energy production. We don’t know how to do this yet.

Fourthly, is the state of and challenges of space law. The Weinersmiths discuss the existing Outer Space Treaty, that has both worked but leaves many questions unanswered. When you are talking brief, exploratory missions and a few samples, there are few problems. However, can a “commons” approach work when there are multiple entities with settlements?

Finally, the Weinersmiths consider what is involved in “going big.” They envision that settlements would be the equivalent of the company town. And how many people are needed for a self-sustaining civilization? The estimates vary widely from under ten thousand to a million or more people. Of course, that begs the question of how we will get them there. And, because human nature doesn’t change, the Weinersmiths explore everything from crime to space war.

The Weinersmiths break up all this serious science and technology talk with comics, down to earth descriptions, like the Moon as a “fixer-upper” and humorous sidenotes like the tale of the tampon bandolier for early female astronauts and why astronauts love taco sauce. Don’t skip over the Nota Bene at the end of each section.

The upshot of all this is that we better not rely on space settlement as a Plan B for the human race. At one point, they note that the best space alternatives are still objectively worst than even extreme climate change conditions. And none are near-term. We are far wiser to focus on the only place we know we can live. However, they do not close the door to space settlement. Rather, to do it well and ethically, there is a lot of groundwork to lay that will take far more than 20-25 years as some would propose. The Weinersmiths suggest centuries, although our ADHD society probably can’t tolerate that. And they weigh the words of naysayers and those who worry what Pandora’s box space settlement could open.

What is valuable is that the Weinersmiths inject a healthy dose of realism into discussions given to hyperbole. Their style is such that readers have fun while considering serious matters. And since a space settlement effort will effect all of us, it’s well worth learning about what is involved and the challenges we may face. This book is a good place to start.

The Weekly Wrap: April 26-May 2

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The Weekly Wrap: April 26-May 2

New Bookstores

“Independent Bookstore Day: Bookshop.org founder on how small retailers are taking on Amazon.” This Fast Company notes that since 2020, the number of members in the American Booksellers Association has grown from1,900 to 3,200.

I think there is something to this. Two nearby communities that have never had bookstores in my memory will have three bookstores by this summer. Escape Into Fiction opened in Powell, Ohio last fall. This summer two bookstores open just down the street from each other in downtown Worthington. Celestielle is scheduled to open May 22 and focuses on fantasy and romance. Then in July, The Whispering Page is scheduled to open, stocking new books of all genres and hosting used book swaps. Their Instagram page also advertises a cafe and bar.

Will they survive? That’s anyone’s guess. But it excites me that there are entrepreneurs who see this a good time to make a go of it. Increasingly, there is a conviction that the big online behemoth is not invincible. Bookshop.org has provided an online alternative to that behemoth that supports Indie stores, and, according to the Fast Company article, have already channeled $47 million to Indie stores.

What delights me about these stores they help to turn the town centers of these communities into more interesting places. And they are filling empty storefronts. They hark back to the time when we’d walk downtown rather than pile into a car to go to the mall. There is a movement of people are going analog and craving interaction with real people.

To me, all this seems a good thing.

Five Articles Worth Reading

Sometimes my “five articles” cluster around a theme. This week, they were just a potpourri of things that caught my attention.

Plough is one of my favorite sources of good writing. This week they posted “When Kierkegaard Got Cancelled.” It’s a fascinating study of how Kierkegaard responded to the attacks and cancelling he encountered.

I was disappointed several years when my one chance to see Bob Seger in concert was lost when he had health issues. He was one of my rock legends, representing the gritty rock of middle America. “The Lost Idealism of Heartland Rock” reviews “Won’t Back Down by Erin Osmon, which traces the progressive strain in artists like Seger, Tom Petty, and John Mellencamp.

Both the change from local businesses to big shopping centers and many of our rock songs assumed the ubiquitous presence of the automobile. “Life After Cars?” reviews a book by the same name that explores what a post-automobile landscape might be like.

His novel Lázár, has been on the German best seller lists for 29 weeks. It’s been compared to Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks. And he is 22 years old. “A Very Old-Fashioned Novel Has Made a Star Out of a Very Young Writer” features the life and work of Nelio Biedermann.

Finally, one of the most prolific American diarists of the nineteenth century was George Templeton Strong. For example, he wrote four million words between 1835 and 1875. His diaries capture what life in New York was like during the Civil War. “Inside a Four-Million-Word Diary of 1860s New York” profiles Strong as well as offers resources if you want to read more of him.

Quote of the Week

In recent years I’ve become something of an advocate for poetry, even daring to read some on my Facebook page. Yusef Komunyakaa, who was born on April 29, 1947, captures something of the essence of the work of poets:

“Poets are seen as the caretakers of language, so working with words no matter what the form is what we do.”

You can read more about his life at the Poetry Foundation.

Miscellaneous Musings

After thirteen years, I made a small tweak to the tagline on my web page, which was “Thoughts about books, reading, and life.” It now reads “Thoughts from a human on books, reading, and life.” Because it is increasingly common to get reviews from AI (which I think sometimes uses reviews I write!). I felt it time to affirm that the reviews on this page are 100 percent human written, based on the reading of whole books by a 100 percent human. Whether that’s better than AI, I’ll leave up to you.

I am an Inklings fan. But Leslie Baynes Interpretation and Imagination reveals that Lewis made scholarly mistakes like the rest of us. He trusted his memory too much when citing others and sometimes misread those he was critiquing. It seems that particularly when he engaged biblical criticism, he was prone to errors stemming from his lack of expertise and background in the field.

Reading Louis Markos’ From Aristotle to Christ challenged me that I had never read Aristotle. He recommended a basic edition, which should be arriving in a few days. Just another example of how reading one book leads to others!

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, A City on Mars

Tuesday: Steven Garber, Hints of Hope

Wednesday: Betony Coons, The Unwinding Path

Thursday: Louis Markos, From Aristotle to Christ

Friday: Jane Austen, Emma

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap  for April 26-May 2.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page.