I read portions of this in manuscript, but have been working away at the final version since it came out. And it is, of course, fantastic. Now one of I read portions of this in manuscript, but have been working away at the final version since it came out. And it is, of course, fantastic. Now one of you will say to me that I am rating it this way because it was written by my daughter. But the fact that Bekah wrote this does not make me rate it this way. It would be fantastic (and greatly needed) regardless.
This book will be a great encouragement to women who want to think, live, and adorn biblically. I recommend it particularly to girls in high school and college -- a great time to get your thinking straight on these issues....more
I hope to write more about this book later, but for now will just say that it was surprisingly good.
Update: I am going to be praising this book highly,I hope to write more about this book later, but for now will just say that it was surprisingly good.
Update: I am going to be praising this book highly, so let me get just a couple of criticisms out of the way at the very front. This book is a “reimagining” of the apostle Paul, one that defends him from some very common modern misunderstandings. It undertakes this task on the basis of a very wide and deep knowledge of the classical world with which Paul was so often in conflict. Sarah Ruden, in short, is someone who is able to listen to both sides of the phone conversation, and who is able to rescue Paul from the misunderstandings of moderns, only able to listen to Paul’s side of it, and who wildly underestimate what he was dealing with.
My two criticisms are these. Ruden tends to accept what current scholarship (all rise) wants to say about Pauline authorship, and so this limits what she is able to draw on as she reintroduces the apostle to us. This cavalier approach to the inspiration of Scripture also results in her willingness to be critical of what she sees as Paul’s foibles—sort of tetchy, ill-tempered, kind of splenetic—while staunchly maintaining that he was among the good guys and was fighting the good fight. I grew up wanting to be more respectful of the apostles than that. She respects him in the main cause—indeed, that is what the book is about—but she also makes a little bit too free.
The second criticism is that she uses Puritan interpretations of Paul as kind of a foil, not realizing that the Puritans need to be understood contextually, just as she does for Paul. Not only so, but when the Puritans are read in context, and more widely than she does, much the same thing happens. So if you read this book on my recommend, tiptoe past her observations of the Puritans. The good stuff is up ahead.
Now the praise. Sarah Ruden’s knowledge of the classical world is wide-ranging. She is intelligent, honest, and informed. Not only does she have this knowledge, she has the courage to simply put what it was like out on the table. I mean this. She interprets the first century in first century terms, without trying to make their customs and outlook fit into contemporary norms. Moreover, she sees very clearly that it was the apostle Paul’s opposition to those perverse norms that helped get us to the world we now inhabit—from which vantage we turn around to critique the apostle.
She tackles genuine hot button issues. There is a chapter on Paul and homosexuality. There is another chapter on Paul and women. And then she also treats Paul’s instructions to slaves. But unlike so many modern commentators, Ruden actually knows what first century sexual ethics were like. She knows the actual status of women back then. She knows what the institution of slavery was like. In support of her observations, she quotes extensively from the literature of the period, and for the average Christian today, few experiences will be as eye-opening as reading this book. Sure, Paul was a first century curmudgeon. But then you get a glimpse of what he was being curmudgeonly about, and your natural response is omigosh.
When you get into the meat of this book, you find arguments that you can respect. Even when you don’t agree, or if you suspect that she would allow for some things today that you would not, what she provides is real substance for real discussion.
Her chapter on homosexuality ends this way:
“All this leads to a feeling of mountainous irony. Paul takes a bold and effective swipe at the power structure. He challenges centuries of execrable practice in seeking a more just, more loving society. And he gets called a bigot. Well, it’s not a persecution that would have impressed him much” (p. 71).
And I will offer this as a teaser. Her provocative treatment of head coverings inverts the whole question, and is at least worth thinking about. In that day the women without veils were not the liberated women, but rather quite the reverse. Slave women, who were frequently forced into prostitution, would not be allowed to wear a covering. Paul’s requirement for the Christian worship service may have been a staggering promotion for the women with pasts—as though it were the height of the Victorian era and he was requiring all Christian women to wear white at their weddings.
I will finish with an observation that I have made before, and it is one that needs to be made over and over again with regard to the kinds of issues addressed in this book—e.g. sexual ethics, the role of women, and slavery. Often evangelical expositors are less to be trusted with the meaning of the text than liberal expositors. This is because an evangelical is necessarily stuck with the results of his exegesis. The liberal can say that Paul taught xyz about women, ho, ho, ho, but the evangelical, if he comes up with xyz, has to defend it himself. This has led in the past to no small measure of exegetical creativity on the part of Bible “believers.” Ruden is in an odd position. She clearly inhabits the liberal academic world, but shows Paul a great deal more actual respect than he often gets from evangelicals. The evangelicals have to pretend respect while at the same time ignoring such peccadillos as his teaching on head coverings, returned slaves, and the problem of the silken boys.
I don’t agree with everything Ruden argues for. But it was one of the more worthwhile books I have read in some time. ...more
I read a lot of Buckley back in the day, but had never read this one, the book that put him on the map. Reading it now, I can certainly see why it putI read a lot of Buckley back in the day, but had never read this one, the book that put him on the map. Reading it now, I can certainly see why it put him on the map. Good stuff....more
A devastating indictment of the current travesty called higher education. A very worthwhile read, especially for those parents preparing to shell out A devastating indictment of the current travesty called higher education. A very worthwhile read, especially for those parents preparing to shell out megabucks for a bunch of nothing....more
Hope to write more about this soon, but for now, let us just say it is superb.
Here is what I wrote on my blog:
Testimonies are powerful. The apostle PaHope to write more about this soon, but for now, let us just say it is superb.
Here is what I wrote on my blog:
Testimonies are powerful. The apostle Paul gives his testimony in the book of Acts more than once, and he did so to great effect. The center of New Testament-style evangelism is found in the two-fold ministry of preaching and testimony. How will they hear without a preacher (Rom. 10:14)? And the one who believes has the witness (marturia) in himself (1 John 5:10).
Witnesses in the first century gave testimony to what the incarnate Christ said and did (1 John 1:2). But that does not render witness superfluous in the ages after—because the Holy Spirit was given to take the place of Christ, and He has been active down to the present day. This is why testimonies have the capacity to be singularly powerful. They can be done poorly, and can be over-run by hackneyed clichés. But sermons can be done poorly also, and yet no one doubts that preaching is an instrument appointed by God.
This testimony is delivered with exceptional grace and force. The Great Good Thing is the testimony of how Andrew Klavan, a secular and very messed up Jew, was found by Christ.
Klavan is an award-winning writer, and it shows. He brings exceptional talents to the description of an exceptional story, one I thoroughly enjoyed reading. The genre of his other books is “crime novel,” a part of Lit Town where I do not usually go, and so until this book I was unfamiliar with his writing. But in the world of mystery and crime writing, he is a well-known name. His novel True Crime was made into a movie, as was Don’t Say a Word. He has won the Edgar Award twice, and can safely be called a competent wordsmith.
I was familiar with him because of his online video commentary on politics and culture, which are very funny and almost always leave bruises. I found out about this book because of his political presence online, ordered it willingly, and read it even more willingly. This is a testimony that has the power to put both hands on your shoulders, and make you sit down with the book.
Here is his description of how he began praying, before He even knew who he was praying to.
“After a while, though, it began to seem to me that I was thinking too much about perfect truth-telling. It was a waste of prayer time. The human heart is so steeped in self-deception that it can easily outrun its own lies. It can use even meticulous honesty as a form of dishonesty, a way of saying to God, ‘Look how honest I am.’ So I let it go. I let it all go. I just flung wide the gates to the sorry junkyard of my soul and let God have a good look at the whole rubble-strewn wreck of it. Then I went ahead and told him my thoughts as plainly as I knew how” (p. 239).
His was a conversion that had cultural, historical, intellectual, and emotion reasons. He deals with them all, honestly, seriously, and without any sanctimony. You will never read a less sanctimonious testimony.
We live in a time when stories like this need to be told, over and again. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. ...more
Superb. It is common for reviewers to say that this chapter or that was worth the price of some book or other, but this book, full of brutal honesty aSuperb. It is common for reviewers to say that this chapter or that was worth the price of some book or other, but this book, full of brutal honesty about academic posturing, has multiple metaphors that were worth the price of the book. Man, can Walter Kirn write....more
Really fine. Except for the chapter on sovereignty and free will, this book is outstanding. It is a popular level handling of the author's The Unseen Really fine. Except for the chapter on sovereignty and free will, this book is outstanding. It is a popular level handling of the author's The Unseen Realm....more
As I said in Wordsmithy, I like reading books on wordsmithery, and this was yet another one. A lot of good sturdy advice here about writing generally,As I said in Wordsmithy, I like reading books on wordsmithery, and this was yet another one. A lot of good sturdy advice here about writing generally, but also a good bit of advice for those looking at the new-fangled ways of gutenburging down the cyber-highway. So to speak....more
Greatly enjoyed this. It is a history of the relationship of Rome and the early Church over the course of the first three centuries. Much of it is takGreatly enjoyed this. It is a history of the relationship of Rome and the early Church over the course of the first three centuries. Much of it is taken up with the politics of numismatic interpretation, and it is quite revealing....more
The three stars is an average. There were sections of the book that were much higher, and others that were confusedly lower. My main complaint is thatThe three stars is an average. There were sections of the book that were much higher, and others that were confusedly lower. My main complaint is that the book doesn't live up to its name. The exegetical and theological work did not support the claim of the title at all, and the demographic and cultural analysis (quite good in itself) might just as easily have provided someone with the data he needed to argue for our time being the true beginning of a fragmented Protestantism. There were some great sections but the overall effect is what you get when brilliant murkiness is combined with ardent hope....more
This is a kid lit book from the late forties that I saw reviewed recently in a magazine, and decided for some reason to read. It is quite good and reaThis is a kid lit book from the late forties that I saw reviewed recently in a magazine, and decided for some reason to read. It is quite good and really satisfying. If you have kids who roar around the house looking for reading material, you might try this one on them. After all, it has the mother of all blurbs on the back cover -- "A masterpiece of childhood literature" -- Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II...more
This is collection of communion addresses by Spurgeon. There are some quite striking (and unexpected) observations here. Well worth it, especially forThis is collection of communion addresses by Spurgeon. There are some quite striking (and unexpected) observations here. Well worth it, especially for pastors who administer communion often....more
This book is a true resource, but it is the kind of resource that you are likely to read clean through, and then read through some other time, and theThis book is a true resource, but it is the kind of resource that you are likely to read clean through, and then read through some other time, and then keep it nearby in order to refresh your memory on this or that.
Too many contemporary Christians are modernists when it comes to their cosmology, with the sole exception of their belief in the human soul. The reality of the afterlife—and a heaven populated with “angels” and what not—doesn’t really count because it is quietly assumed that that place is outside the regular cosmos somehow, and so can’t be incorporated into the modern cosmology. The universe is thought to be exactly what the atheist astronomer says it is—a vast empty space, punctuated here and there with dead rock and flaming gases. The spiritual realm is filed away in the 17th dimension somehow.
The problem with this is that there is such a thing as a biblical cosmology. We often miss references to these realities in the text because we are so steeped in the modernist conceptions that we simply slide right over them in our Scripture reading. But if we are ever brought up short, we will really be brought up short, and this will be the book that can do it. The subtitle is a very good description—“Recovering the supernatural worldview of the Bible.” Considered as a promise, it is a promise that delivers.
Michael Heiser begins his exhaustive biblical study of cosmology with Psalm 82:1
“God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He judgeth among the gods” (Ps. 82:1).
This is not an instance of the living God judging among the dead superstitions. It can be read as “Elohim stands in the congregation of the mighty—He judges among the elohim.” The one true God with a plural suffix in His name judges among the plural gods that have a plural suffix for a different reason.
Scripture does not teach us that the pagan gods were non-existent. Paul tells us that there were in fact “gods many and lords many” (1 Cor. 8:5-6), and he tells us that genuine demonic forces were involved in idol worship of the pagans (1 Cor. 10:20). And when Paul cast a demon out of that young woman at Philippi, the original says that he was casting out the “spirit of a python.” This marked her as a devotee of the god Apollo. All of this is to say that the unseen realm is not sparsely populated. A lot is going on there, and a lot is said about in the Scriptures.
This book is really outstanding. There are places where I differ with a particular point, but even here it is a delight to be having the discussion. The Unseen Realm is scholarly, readable, provocative, and above all, grounded in the text. The only serious criticism I would have concerned the (unnecessary) foray into a discussion of free will in Chapter 7. But even that was comparatively a slight distraction.
Who are the Nephilim? What is the council of the gods exactly? Who were the beings that were locked up in Tartarus? Who is the angel of YHWH? What is meant by the “two YHWHs,” and how does this relate to the radical scriptural insistence upon monotheism? What is being referred to when we speak of principalities, powers, dominions or thrones? The chief value of this book is that we learn that it is not necessary for our eyes to glaze over when we encounter references like this. When we turn to the Scripture with our questions, it is astonishing how many of those questions are answered explicitly in the text.
This is the scholarly fat book on the subject. If you want to check the thesis out on a more popular level, you can check out his other book on the subject entitled Supernatural.
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