Wednesday Read and Learn: Son of Hamas Book Review

Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef (in collaboration with Ron Brakin) is aptly subtitled " A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices."

The author is the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founding member of Hamas and a very popular and influential member of that group.

I was intrigued by a review I read about this book which highlighted the fact that Mosab Yousef had converted to Christianity and is now living in the United States in political asylum. That was definitely one of the "unthinkable choices" the author made in his life, but it is not the focal point of this memoir.

Yousef was the right-hand man to his father, and spent much time in Israeli prisons. He was recruited in his first imprisonment by the Israeli internal intelligence service, Shin Bet, and became a double agent--rising to a powerful position within Hamas while at the same time relaying vital intelligence to the Israelis. This role provided protection for his father from the retaliation for the terrorist operations of Hamas which otherwise would surely have come his way.

One of the results of the multiple imprisonments was that Yousef saw not only Israeli brutality but also the brutality visited on his fellow Hamas members by the Hamas gang leaders in the prison. He has great admiration and love for his father, whom he describes as a true servant-leader of his people, but was dismayed by his father's increasing tolerance of the use of violence and terror by Hamas and the unreasonable and corrupt leadership that developed.

Yousef recounts a number of hair-raising assignments that he undertook for the Israelis as a double agent over a number of years and these stories rival anything you've seen on 24. He became a successful businessman in between stints in prison, which were arranged by the Shin Bet in order to protect his "cover".

But the recounting of his spiritual journey is much less sensational. The more violence and treachery he was exposed to, the more he began to question the beliefs he grew up with. When some friends invite him to a Christian Bible study, he takes them up on it. (There's that relational aspect to evangelism again!) Yousef becomes attracted to the teachings of Jesus long before he comes to accept him as Lord. His final conversion was not a "Damascus" moment, but a gradual acceptance of the truth of the Gospel message about the nature of Christ. If this were a novel rather than a memoir, I would characterize the story of his religious conversion as a minor sub-plot and not part of the major theme of the book.

The conversion, together with the mounting emotional toll of many years of living a double deception, prompt Yousef to quit his association with Shin Bet and finally negotiate their assistance in his departure from the area and arrival in the US where he received political asylum.

He writes that he retains a relationship with his father and his family, despite the conversion and departure, because of their strong ties of love. His former associates in Hamas of course see him as a traitor to them and to Islam. Publishing this memoir is certainly an act of great courage which exposes the author to the risk of retribution, even as a resident of the US.

In an afterword, Yousef describes himself as a new believer with a long way to travel on his new spiritual journey as a Christian and disavows any role as a spokesman or leader. Fair enough.

Still, there is something unsettling about this book and author that I cannot quite put my finger on. Maybe it's an uneasiness with the ethical and moral problems inherent in the role of a double agent, although I recognize the need for them in the current international situation. Maybe it's because I expected the faith journey to be more integral to the story than I think it is and was disappointed. Maybe it's a profound feeling of despair about the possibility of a truce in the Israeli-Palestinan conflict that descended on me after finishing the book. Maybe it's all of these things.

(Cross-posted at Quotidian Grace)

Read and Learn -- Life in Between

I don't remember what first caught my attention about the book, Heaven On Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards' Vision of Living In Between by Stephen J. Nichols; but I do remember the Amazon reviewer who said something to the effect of, if you want to know what Edwards had to say about Heaven -- read Edwards. I can't really argue with that. I can say that this author does a very nice job of making Edwards' views of Heaven, and living the journey towards Heaven, accessible and contemporary.

One example that caught my eye was the discussion of Edwards' opinions about justice. In our culture it is easy to think of seeking justice as something for the likes of Gary Haugen and his amazing colleagues at the International Justice Mission, and less so for lawyers like me with a nice comfortable, safe practice in a nice, comfortable American city. Even so, that is a calling for a handful of lawyers -- not for the rest of us. In this book the author used Edwards' own experiences with Native Americans to illustrate Edwards' concept of justice as a necessary part of a Christian worldview. The author takes the New Testament command to care for widows and orphans and translates that into giving a voice to the poor and the powerless. All of a sudden that doesn't sound like something you have to be a lawyer busting white slavers to do.

On a completely different level there is something very encouraging about this book. As it translates an Edwards' sermon series into more contemporary idiom, it becomes clear that Edwards did not spend his life preaching to a congregation overflowing with committed Saints. His congregation was very much like any other, filled with far too many who still don't quite get it.

JusticeSeeker
JusticeSeekerOK@aol.com

Read and Learn -- Short List This Book

General disclaimer, I love Richard Foster -- not that I've actually met him or anything. That being said, his book Life With God seems to have been written for the Frozen Chosen.

Several weeks ago my Church's Sunday bulletin included a list of three books the preaching Pastor considered his short list of books to suggest to people looking for help in growing closer to God. I wasn't nuts about his list, and that got me thinking about what books I would put on that list. Then I read Life With God. It definitely makes the list.

We are Presbyterians. That means, almost by definition, we are intelligent, well-read, better educated, rational to a fault and much more head-oriented than heart-oriented. The basic thrust of Foster's book is how to read the Bible in order to find what Foster calls the "with God life" rather than simply accumulating more knowledge of facts and history. First, Foster distinguishes the practice of reading the Bible to gain information or knowledge or to find some formula that will provide an easy answer to the problem at hand. Both of these practices leave the reader in charge and may produce educated, informed people; but are not likely to produce evidence of real spiritual transformation.

Then, Foster describes in a very intellectually accessible way why we want to find more in the Bible. He describes in great detail the process (Lectio Divina). He provides examples and detail. What frequently comes across in other books as too mystical and touchy-feely for the Frozen crowd is intellectually accessible and perfectly rational. Instead of writing a single chapter about Lectio Divina, as he did in his fabulous book on prayer, Foster uses most of this book to draw the reader into the idea, to make the reader want more, to walk the reader carefully through the process and through the books of the Bible in terms of the story to be found there -- both Testaments. I think many Presbyterians would rather have a well indexed User's Guide than the collection of stories, history, prophecy, poetry, law, etc. that we call the Bible. Foster takes that attitude head-on showing the stories, meaning, experiences and relationship available throughout this wonderful collection of stories and lives we call Scripture.

The book does make mention of Spiritual Disciplines in general in a number of places and a couple of the last chapters deal with disciplines specifically, although more as a framework on which to build than anything else. This is not, however, a book on fasting or solitude. This is a book on finding a relationship with the Living God in his written word.

JusticeSeeker
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Calvinism and CT's Front Page

I really do know that not all Presbyterians are Calvinists -- but I am. I also know that Calvinism is the currently trendy flavor of choice amongst many Evangelical seminaries. Still, I was somewhat tickled to see a string of Calvin related stories on the Christianity Today RSS feed today.

I block copied this from CT's front page:

John Calvin: Comeback Kid Why the 500-year-old Reformer retains an enthusiastic following today. Timothy George Also: The Reluctant Reformer Also: Calvin's Biggest Mistake Full Coverage: John Calvin

What Calvin Gets Right
Even those who vigorously disagree with the Reformer are still impressed.

Man of the Bible
Ben Witherington: When it comes to careful exegesis and consistent theological systems, Calvin set the bar high.

Theologian of the Spirit
Roger E. Olson: Calvin was no charismatic, but he was closer to it than some Reformed people readily admit.

A Common Hope
John Wilson: Much of 'Calvinism' is simply Christianity.

***FROM BOOKS & CULTURE
Do Not Despair; Do Not Presume
Mark Valeri reviews Peter J. Thuesen's Predestination: The American Career of a Contentious Doctrine.

So, yet another post in the ongoing celebration of John Calvin's birth.

JusticeSeeker
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Read and Learn -- WSJ Promotes the Presence of God

I was reading the Wall Street Journal the other day. Buried in the back was a book review of a book that I have not read, The Third Man Factor, by Michael J. Ybarra. The review briefly describes a number of examples of what the book refers to as the "third-man phenomenon". One of which involved a mountaineer and is described:

On the way down, he stopped to eat a mint cake, cutting it in half to share with . . . someone who wasn't there but who had seemed to be his partner all day.

There are several other brief mountaineering stories, a mention of Charles Lindbergh feeling a ghostly companion on his solo flight across the Atlantic and others.

The Wall Street Journal describes the book as:

. . . . a highly readable, often gripping, collection of survival stories, alongside a survey of theories that attempt to explain the third-man phenomenon.

Amongst the possible explanations for this "third-man phenomenon", according to the reviewer, the author prefers a biochemical survival strategy hard-wired into our brains. The book discusses in support of this theory research that claims to produce this "third-man phenomenon" with electrical stimulation of the brain.

Although the review seems to indicate that neither the author of the review nor the author of the book is buying the very real presence of God as the explanation, I find it interesting that an article in the very secular Wall Street Journal takes a position so consistent with the idea that our Creator designed us to walk with him.

JusticeSeeker
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Read and Learn -- The Once and Future Church

I wrote a long post, tried to post it; and Blogger had eaten all of the post's text. It was blank. So, I will try to reconstruct it, sorry this is late.

I have read three books lately that are completely different, but each one has made me think about the other two. The three books are The Second Coming of the Church by George Barna, Jonathan Edwards: A Life, by George M. Marsden and Punk Munk: New Monasticism and the Ancient Art of Breathing by Andy Freeman and Pete Greig.

The Barna book is a discussion of what he thinks are the problems with the church in America and what he thinks we should do about it. The first part is pretty good. I generally think he has a pretty good grasp of what is going on -- and he should. His work is generally well researched, factual and well supported. It is the second part of the book that I have problems with. I don't mean to imply that there aren't some good ideas in this book. There are, and many of them could be useful in revitalizing existing congregations. To me, the problem with this book is that Barna seems to be trying to get back to the glory days of the 1950's and 1960's when church attendance was booming, pastors were politically and socially influential and churches were filled with all the right people.

I just don't know that the big building, big budget church model was ever all that successful. Of course, this assumes that church success is defined by the nurturing of dedicated committed Christians willing to lead lives of obedience and service. I tend to wonder if even 10% of the population of those churches had fit that description how different would this world be?

That question leads me to the Jonathan Edwards book. First of all, this book is well researched, well presented and should be read by anyone with an interest in the church of that time. Our concept of a church is really a direct descendant of the congregations of Edwards' day. I think it is a common idea that people in the first half of the 18th Century at least pretended to be pretty pious. Well, not exactly. In fact, Edwards spent a great deal of time concerned about the state of salvation in his Congregation. He was an influential leader during a period of significant spiritual renewal in New England, and he was very attentive to what did and did not make a difference in the spiritual lives of his congregation. Although, Edwards was a very effective pastor; I don't see that his effectiveness was connected to the church model. In fact, I am convinced that the big building, big budget model was no more effective then than it is now.

That leads me to the third book, Punk Monk. This is the least well written of the three books. It has a great topic with wonderful stories, but it lacks sparkle. It isn't that it is difficult to read, but it is a little too easy to put down. Punk Monk is the second book about the rise of the 24/7 prayer movement that started in England a few years ago. (The International website is www.24-7prayer.com , and the US website is www.24-7prayer.us .)

The 24-7 prayer contribution to the New Monasticism movement are places called boiler rooms. There are several in the U.S., England and quite a few in other parts of the world as well. This book is about the start of the boiler room idea. I am not saying that they have the answer to the future of the church. I am also not saying that this book is filled with ideas that will fit into an existing congregation. I am saying that it is a pretty different way of doing church that is worth reading.

So, what is the point of this blog post? If the goal of our education programs is to make committed Christians (including well informed, well educated ones), then how is what we teach and how we teach it influenced by our opinions of where the future of the church lies?

JusticeSeeker
JusticeSeekerOK@aol.com

Read and Learn -- a Crazy Good Chapter

I recently finished a book called, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan. The first two or three chapters are nothing that will be new to anyone reading this -- you may not agree with it, but you will have seen it before -- 1. Try and focus on the awesomeness of God and his creation; 2. Get over the idea that this world is all about you; 3. Consider how much God really loves us. Well done in a kind of casual, trying-to-be cool, post-modern way, yes; but not new.

Read this book for Chapter 4. Profile of the Lukewarm.

The opening of Chapter 4 is a quote from Forum Magazine:

It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity.

The bulk of this chapter is a series of fairly biting descriptions of what the author feels are stereotypical, luke-warm American Christians. Each description is followed by one or more Bible verses pillorying the description. I would excerpt one or two of them here, but they really are best taken as a whole.

The rest of the book is worth reading, but get your hands on the book for Chapter 4.

JusticeSeeker
JusticeSeekerOK@aol.com

Thursday Review -- Looking Around

Grace is moving, and I'm in trial Friday with major work events stacked up for the next few weeks, so today you are getting other people's reviews.

Christianity Today has what is really a list rather than reviews of My Top Five Spiritual Memoirs, by Lauren Winner. She lists brief descriptions of 5 books: Facing East: A Pilgrim's Journey into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy, by Frederica Mathewes-Green; Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith, by Nora Gallagher; Miriam's Kitchen: A Memoir, by Elizabeth Ehrlich; Virgin Time: In Search of the Contemplative Life, by Patricia Hampl; and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs.

I thought several of these looked interesting, but only one of them is available on Kindle -- so don't expect me to be reading them anytime soon. (I am blaming Grace for my addiction. There is no basis in truth for that whatsoever, but it is convenient and easy and I am sticking to it.)

Also on Christianity Today's website currently is an interview with W. Robert Godfrey on his biography, John Calvin: Pilgrim and Pastor. I am planning on reading this one, but it will have to wait until after I finish a humongous, but very well done, biography of Jonathan Edwards.

If anyone checks out any of the books mentioned above, let us know. We would love to hear from you some Thursday.

JusticeSeeker
JusticeSeekerOK@aol.com

Paper Chase P. 3 -- The Atheist and Jerry Falwell

This series was not planned. I just happened to read a book about a seminarian. Then, cruising around the Kindle store I saw a book that I thought was something completely different; but it turned out to be another book about someone going through a form of religious education -- Catholic that time. About the same time I ran across a third book with a different twist on the combination of education and religion, and a series was born. Let me introduce you to, The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University. The author, Kevin Roose, spent his freshman year at the liberal bastion Brown University. He then spent spring of his sophomore year at Liberty University, founded and run by Jerry Falwell himself.

Relevant background on the author is that he was studying English and Journalism at Brown. He worked for the author of a Year of Living Biblically, so this type of experiential, Gonzo journalism was something he had seen first-hand. He was raised by essentially non-observant Quakers, and he says early in the book that before he started at Liberty he could have named the four Gospels -- if you gave him a few minutes.

Frankly, I expected a smear job. Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed that, mind you. I live in the same State with Oral Roberts University. I was surprised. The author made a serious effort to bridge the God Gap, to find out what makes conservative Christians tick and who they really are as people. He claims that he wanted to learn and to understand, not to judge; and as hard as this is to believe, the book does come across that way.

We say that we want to know what non-Christians see when they visit a Church and how they perceive Christianity. Well, this is a good start. The fact that it is a pleasant and easy read doesn't hurt. Oh, and one of the great details in this story, the author managed to talk his way into doing an interview for the school paper with Falwell himself. Falwell died a few days later. That just happened to be the last print interview Jerry Falwell ever gave.

Two days ago John Shuck posted a book review on his blog, Shuck and Jive. He was reviewing a book by a Professor at the University of Texas named Robert Jensen. If the name rings a bell, you might have heard of Prof. Jensen. Several years ago he was admitted to active membership at an Austin PCUSA congregation without making a profession of faith -- because he was an avowed atheist. He was ultimately moved to the Baptized Member roles (a nice usage of that classification that I doubt I would have thought of). He has since written this book reviewed on Shuck and Jive, called All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path in the Prophetic Voice. The book review is on Tuesday May 12. On Wednesday May 13 began a discussion, connected to the book, of how we define God and religion and how non-Christians (or at least some non-Christians) perceive that we define God and religion. What caught my attention is that some parts of what I read on Shuck and Jive correlate nicely with a series of discussions I have had recently with a Seeker.

Two very different views of Christianity from the outside. Personally, I prefer the atheist from Brown -- but I'm from Oklahoma, I've never been a Longhorn fan.

JusticeSeeker
JusticeSeekerOK@aol.com

Paper Chase Pt. 2 -- Catholic this Time

Not long ago I posted a review of an Episcopalian woman's adventures during her first year of religious training, in that case seminary. Shortly after finishing The Close, I was poking around the biographies and memoirs section of Amazon's Kindle store and saw a book called, The Tulip and The Pope: A Nun's Story, by Deborah Larsen. I though it was an historical biography. It wasn't. The Tulip and the Pope is a story of a mid-western woman who joined a Catholic religious order in the early 1960's. She stayed for quite a few years but left before taking final vows. Approximately 40 years after leaving the Order she wrote this beautifully written and quite sympathetic telling of her time there.

In a strange way this book is everything that The Close was not, at least in the sense of the spiritual development that I am perhaps naive enough to think should go hand in hand with training for any kind of religious calling. Something that I find particularly interesting is that all of the comments to my review of The Close included a mention that their author's spiritual development had been strongly influenced by Catholics.

Now, that isn't to say that the spiritual path laid out for the novitiates in The Tulip and the Pope was without flaw. Frankly, in that respect the author was too kind in her writing; and I am probably being too kind here as well. Nonetheless, over the course of the book you can see the author growing in the spiritual stature necessary to play a spiritual role in other people's lives.

I thought it made a nice bookend to The Close. Although, unlike The Close I strongly recommend The Tulip and the Pope: A Nun's Story, to anyone interested in why a young woman would make that choice at the start of the 1960's, why she would stay for several years and, finally, why she would leave. Although, the facts and circumstances are very different; the basic concept of loving God, wanting to serve God and having to find the way in which to do that is a common tale for all of us.

Thursday Review -- The Paper Chase Meets God

I recently read, The Close: A Young Woman's First Year at Seminary, by Chloe Breyer. Now, I have never been to seminary -- but I have been to law school. There is a seminal work on life in law school called, One L. (The movie based on the book was named The Paper Chase.) So, I was looking forward to reading what I hoped would be the seminary equivalent. After all, The Close was written by Chloe BREYER, as in the daughter of Justice Breyer.

I must confess that I was disappointed. One L does a splendid job of two things. First, it gives a pretty fair look at what life is really like as a first year law student. Second, it takes the reader along on the journey that turns a normal human into someone who thinks like a lawyer -- which is the real goal of law school.

Chloe Breyer is an unabashed, knee-jerk, New England liberal. I'm a good Democrat, and she is way too reminiscent to me of a lot that is wrong with the Democratic party. I really don't want to know what some of our more conservative ring members will have to say about her. Even I had to get past her perspective on life, politics and the value of a good protest.

The book opened with a brief explanation of what drew the author to seminary. She clearly feels a connection to the mysticism and wonder of spirituality. She chose an Episcopal seminary General Theological Seminary in New York City, because it was supposed to be good at spiritual development. I was really looking forward to watching that side of the story unfold. That is where I found the book disappointing.

The book does provide what appears to be a pretty decent look at what life is really like in seminary -- struggles with Greek, daily chapel, more struggles with Greek. What I didn't see, is any real walk down the spirtual development road.

Of course, maybe I missed the boat from the beginning. I am not completely stupid. I have figured out that America's seminaries are not turning out legions of spiritually mature Saints ready to change the world by faith while leading radically different lives. In the last chapter the author seems to realize that too.

This book is not, I hope, the seminarian's answer to One L. Nor is it a spiritual journey that will make you yearn for your own mountaintop experiences. It is, however, a pretty fair look at the nuts and bolts of seminary life -- or, at least, as far as this Lawyer can tell.

JusticeSeeker
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Thursday Read and Learn: A Presby Prof Looks at Lincoln

A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White is a fascinating biography of the greatest American president and is appropriately published in this 200th year since his birth.

The first half of the book is devoted to Lincoln's early life on the western frontier and his emergence as a self-educated lawyer and political leader in Illinois. The second half covers his rise to national prominence and his terms in office until his assasination. White focuses on Lincoln's public life and work rather than on his private life and family. Unlike many recent biographies, White portrays Mary Lincoln in a very sympathetic light.

One of the major themes of the book is the development of Lincoln's spiritual life and thought as he struggled with doubt and Christian belief throughout his life. This is not surprising, given the fact that the author is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and was dean and professor of American Religious History at San Francisco Theological Seminary.

My PresbyReaders will be interested to learn how Lincoln was influenced by the Old School Presbyterian minister Dr. Phineas Gurley, the pastor of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington where Abraham and Mary Lincoln rented a pew and regularly attended worship services (although Lincoln himself never formally became a member of the church).

According to White, Lincoln "had chosen to attend rational nonpolitical Old School congregations over experiential, antislavery New School congregations in both Springfield and Washington." White traces the development of Lincoln's belief in a God of providence who guides men and nations during this time and links it to Gurley's sermons.

Lincoln's belief is evidenced in a fascinating fragment that was not published until many years after his death. Found by his secretary John Hay, it is known as A Meditation on the Divine Will. Although I have read several biographies of the Great Emancipator over the years, I don't recall another that gave as much emphasis on Lincoln's spiritual development as to the development of his political opinions and his mastery of military strategy.

A. Lincoln is a superb portrait of a complex, great and good man. Kudos to Dr. White!

(Cross posted at Quotidian Grace.)

Read and Learn Thursday: My Jesus Year

Here's another book by a Jewish journalist with a reality-show flavor. It reminded me of The Year of Living Biblically in some ways and I wasn't surprised to see A. J. Jacobs, the author of YOLB, endorsing the book.

Although both YOLB and My Jesus Year are about Jews seeking to connect with their faith, the difference is that while Jacobs was an agnostic (and remained one), Benyamin Cohen, the author of My Jesus Year, is a believing and observant Orthodox Jew.

This is NOT a book about conversion, but a record of the author's hope that by investigating Christianity, Jesus lead him back to Judaism. And He does, by the way!

Cohen is the son of an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, and the only one of his siblings not to become a rabbi or marry one. In fact, his wife is the daughter of a Methodist minister who embraced Judiasm when they married.

Cohen writes that he felt estranged from his faith and found no meaning in its rituals and services. With the permission from his own rabbi (because Orthodox Jews are not supposed to attend church services) he embarked on his "Jesus Year", which involved attending as many Christian church services as he could, mostly in the greater Atlanta area where he lives.

The value in this book for the Christian reader lies in the sage observation of Robert Burns:

Oh wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursl's as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
And foolish notion.

Cohen's viewpoint is that of a sympathetic outsider to the Christian faith. One of the things he is seeking to discover is how some Christian churches attract and keep their attendance and the devotion of their members. He hopes that he will find ideas that would translate to the synagogue.

The book is both humorous and instructive. Cohen writes extensively about the evangelical mega-churches and some odd sects like the Black Jews, but not much about the mainline Protestant churches. I think this shows his journalistic bias because these groups provide more entertaining and sometimes sensational copy.

Cohen spent some time in Catholic churches where he found he could identify with the emphasis on ritual in their services. There was one odd chapter in which he goes to confession and has a discussion with the priest about his loss of faith without telling the priest he is a Jew and not Catholic., although he knows that confession is meant for Catholics only. I'm really not sure what to make of this, not being Catholic myself, but it made me uncomfortable.

At the beginning of the book Cohen writes of his fascination with the Cokesbury Methodist Church which was in his neighborhood when he grew up. At the end of the book he visits that church and finds that the congregation has aged, dwindled away and the church is hanging on by a thread. In the afterword he notes that this church was closed not long after his visit. A parable for our time?

The book is well written and the author is likable and sincere. It's always a good thing to learn how Christians appear to others.

Note: This review is cross-posted from Quotidian Grace. If you would like to share a book review on Presbyterian Bloggers, please leave a comment below. We'd love to have more contributors!

UPDATE:

It's always a treat to have someone comment on my book reviews, but when I got an email from Benyamin Cohen today thanking me for this review of his book --- well, it really made my day!

Cohen sent me a link to a highlights video of a talk he gave at an Episcopal Church and said that he welcomes the opportunity to discuss his book at other churches. If you're interested, watch the video and email him: theauthor at myjesusyear dot com. The book's website is: www.myjesusyear.com.

First Thursday Book Review

Mary Doria Russell's A Thread of Grace is a well-researched and compelling historical novel set in northern Italy during WWII. The story begins as the Italian government collapses and the area becomes controlled by German forces. Members of the Italian resistance and ordinary peasant folks hid their Jewish neighbors as well as Jews fleeing the Nazis from other countries. And many paid the price for their defiance.

The meaning of the title of the book is revealed at the end when Rabbi Iacopo Soncini visits one of the Catholic nuns who hid Jewish children in an orphanage after the war is over.

" There's a saying in Hebrew," he tells her, " 'No matter how dark the tapestry God weaves for us, there's always a thread of grace.' After the Yom Kippur roundup in '43, people all over Italy helped us. Almost fifty thousand Jews were hidden. Italians, foreigners. And so many of them survived the occupation. I keep asking myself, Why was it so different here? Why did Italians help when so many others turned away?"

Russell offers some answers to the rabbi's question in the book, but ultimately, they are not fully satisfactory. The "thread of grace" seems to be the only answer to me.

Readers who are familiar with Russell's books The Sparrow and The Children of God, will see a similarity between the Emilio Sanchez, the conflicted priest in those books and the protagonist of this book, Renzo Leoni, the leader of the resistance who sometimes poses as a priest.

The novel is complex, compelling, disturbing and challenging on many levels. There are a few scenes of brutality that made me wish I hadn't read them so close to bedtime. I saw an article that said the author tossed a coin to determine the fate of several of the characters, which does reflect the random tragedy of war that afflicts "the just and the unjust."

I appreciated the "Coda" at the end of the novel that followed the life of one of the major characters after the war, revealing how it affected her and the family she had later.

It is important to remember not only what happened during the Holocaust, but that there were some "righteous Gentiles" who risked everything to protect the Jews and others targeted for extermination by Hitler and his henchmen. I'd like to think I would be as heroic as those in the book who sheltered their Jewish neighbors at the risk of life and limb, putting their own families at risk as well. But the truth is...I doubt it.

The Holocaust deniers cannot be allowed to rewrite history. We must Never. Ever. Forget.

Thread of Grace would be a good choice for small group study and discussion or a church book club. It's a great read and poses some deep theological and ethical questions. Here's a link to some suggested questions for discussion to get you started.

(Cross posted at Quotidian Grace.)

Read and Learn Thursday: Understanding the Koran

Last fall my church offered a series of classes called "Loving Your Muslim Neighbor". El Jefe and I attended and found ourselves simultaneously enlightened and challenged by the speakers, who came from all over the country and the world. Houston has a sizeable Muslim population, so the subject is a very relevant one for us. In fact, there is a mosque about 3 miles from our home in Sugar Land.

We were particularly interested in the presentation about the Koran by Rev. Mateen Elass, a Presbyterian minister from Oklahoma. Rev. Elass' father was a Muslim who came to the United States for his education where he met and married Elass' mother who is American and was raised as a Christian. Elass described his father as more of a "cultural" than a "religious" Muslim, but said that he grew up in a Muslim enviornment in Saudi Arabia where his father, a Syrian, was employed by AARAMCO. Elass' recounted his own faith journey, which brought him to confess Christ and later become a Presbyterian pastor--which caused a long estrangement with his parents.

His presentation included a brief summary of his book, Understanding the Koran: A Quick Christian Guide to the Muslim Holy Book.

Elass sees the influx of Muslim immigrants to the United States as a challenge to the church:

In many ways, the relative success of Islam in our midst should serve as a rebuke to the church of Jesus Christ for our poor witness to the grace and truth of our Lord. For the sake of Muslims and all others who are hungry to connect with a personal god, we Christians must make sure that the dividing walls of human hostility that Christ destroyed on the cross are not rebuilt through our own sins of racism or apathy.

Although some Christians say that the Muslim Allah is different from the God we worship, Elass does not agree. He believes that the Muslim Allah is the same God we worship, but that the Muslim understanding of God is incomplete because they do not know the love and salvation available to them through Jesus Christ.

Among the topics Elass addresses in the book are how the Koran is viewed by Muslims; the origins of the Koran (including Jewish and Christian sources); Jesus in the Koran; and the understanding of heaven, hell and jihad in the Koran. Discussion questions for each chapter are included at the back of the book and should prompt some lively exchanges of opinion in any adult group.

Elass is a scholar, so there are times when the book becomes a bit academic and difficult. I think this adds to the credibility of the author's presentation because the book is a serious study of the subject despite its brevity. Since the Koran is the true heart of Islam, this is important for American Christians . This book is an ideal introduction for church study groups. It is not easy, glib, or polemical. I recommend it.