Two New Books on Early Christianity

What’s With Paul and Women?
Unlocking the Cultural Background to 1 Timothy 2.
Paperback: Ekklesia Press, 2010.
Buy now:  [ Amazon ]

Commentary on the Gospel of John
(Ancient Christian Texts Series)
Theodore of Mopsuestia
Hardback: IVP Academic, 2010.
Buy Now: [ ChristianBook.com ]

Jon Zens’ newest book with the Seinfeld-esque name What’s With Paul and Women? offers a brief, but pointed critique of the literal and superficial reading of I Timothy 2 that understands that passage as saying that women should categorically never be able to teach men in churches.  Zens, who is editor of the engaging and long-thriving periodical Searching Together, does a wonderful job here of confirming my intuitions (and I suspect those of others as well) that Paul’s instruction was contextual – for the church in Ephesus in that time – and not universal.  Many objections that might be raised are identified and delicately dismantled.  This clear and thorough treatment of this passage is essential reading for anyone who has questions about the place of women teachers in the church, or for anyone in dialogue with those who doubt that women should teach.

The newest volume in IVP’s Ancient Christian Texts Series is Theodore of Mopsuestia’s Commentary on the Gospel of John.  Before I picked up this volume, Theodore was not a figure with whom I was familiar, and there is good reason why Theodore’s name is not a familiar one: in the mid-sixth century, more than a hundred years after his death, his writings were condemned as Nestorian and thus heretical and were in large part destroyed.  However, as described in the book’s introduction, the latest scholarship (and specifically variant versions of this text that have survived the centuries) calls into question Theodore’s condemnation as a Nestorian.  Since the Nestorian controversy centered on the nature of Christ’s person, this commentary on John’s Gospel gives us a excellent vantage point for exploring Theodore’s position, and for broadening our own perspectives on Church History, reminding us of the reality that historical situations – even within the Church – are almost always more complex than what we learn in our basic historical introductions.

Almighty God, great Source of All
A Hymn of the Early Church
Translated by John Brownlie
(from Hymns of the Early Church )

Almighty God, great Source of all,
Upholder of the earth and sea,
To whom Thy works unceasing call,
Throughout their vast immensity;
The heaven reflects Thy glory bright,
From sunlit dome, and starry height.
Dark clouds surround Thy kingly seat;
But where Thou art is peerless light;
There righteousness and mercy meet
In all their gentleness and might;
The beauty of Thy place of bliss
Is purity and holiness.

Almighty God! Thy power supreme
The rebel arm presumes to win,
While all the hosts of hell blaspheme,
And hurl the darts of death and sin;
But lo, the God-man, girt with might,
Hath turned the hosts of hell to flight.
Almighty God! we lift our eyes
To where the awful cross is raised,
And there, by holy sacrifice,
Behold the pride of sin abased;
And at His feet, whose love o’ercame,
Renew our fealty to Thy name.

“Imagining Living Places
That Participate Within Their Contexts”

A Review of
Natural Houses:
The Residential Architecture of Andersson-Wise
and
Rematerial: From Waste to Architecture.

Reviewed by Brent Aldrich.

Natural Houses:
The Residential Architecture
of Andersson-Wise
Hardback: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010.
Buy now: [ Amazon ]

Rematerial:
From Waste to Architecture.
Alejandro Bahamón and Maria Camila Sanjinés
Paperback: W.W. Norton, 2010.
Buy now: [ Amazon ]

The city of Indianapolis – where I live – like many American cities has experienced huge amounts of suburban and exurban sprawl in the last decade. Within the last two years, it has been reported that for the first time in human history, more people live in cities than in rural places, although those numbers owe much to these sprawling, never-ending bedroom cities, so far removed from the city core, and hardly fair to be categorized as ‘urban’ at all. Many of us have watched the cycle of a farm stripped of all features, leveled, pipes buried, roads and curbs laid, and anonymous, windowless, porchless beige boxes spring up in record time. This widespread, wasteful suburbanization is completely oblivious to the place where it exists, what has been displaced for it to be there, how the place might inform how it is developed, and on and on. Fortunately, there is an alternative, and two new architecture books that both take place, site-specificity and local resources as their starting place and help us to imagine living places that acknowledge and participate within their context are Natural Houses: The Residential Architecture of Andersson-Wise and Rematerial: From Waste to Architecture.

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“Shaping and Being Shaped”

A Review of
The Shallows:
What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.
By Nicholas Carr.

Reviewed by Jonathan Schindler.

The Shallows:
What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.
By Nicholas Carr.
Hardback: W.W. Norton, 2010.
Buy now: [ Amazon ]

In The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Nicholas Carr fittingly quotes John Culkin: “We shape our tools, and thereafter they shape us” (210). Culkin’s observation and Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” provide the thesis for The Shallows: The Internet is changing us for the worse.

Carr’s argument begins with anecdotal evidence. After frequent Internet use, he suspected that his mind was changing. He could no longer read lengthy articles and books with the same attention he was once able to devote. Was the Internet really causing this?

Carr provides several neurological studies and historical examples to prove the first part of his thesis. The neurological studies were especially fascinating, illustrating “neuroplasticity,” our brain’s ability to adapt to new situations and stimuli. (For example, people who have lost use of one of their senses often have their other senses heightened. The brain rewires itself, forming new connections, so that what was formerly used for the now-dormant sense can be used to boost the other, still-operating senses.) Another aspect of neuroplasticity is that the more an action is performed, the more connections between neurons are formed, and the skill is solidified. Repeated actions form habits, basically. From these more modern studies, Carr moves on to historical examples (the map, clock, and book, as well as others) in which new technologies changed behavior and the way people thought. He paraphrases Marshall McLuhan in saying that “technologies numb the very faculties they amplify. . . . alienation is an inevitable by-product of the use of technology” (212). By becoming used to a tool that makes things easier, we risk losing the skills and relationship with the work that we had before the tool.

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A Review of EAARTH:Making Life on a Tough New Planet. Bill McKibben. Hardback: Times Books, 2010. Buy now: [ Amazon ] Reviewed by Chris Smith. [ Read an excerpt from this book... ] [ Watch two videos of McKibben talking about EAARTH ]

Since the release of his heralded book The End of Nature, almost twenty years ago, Bill McKibben has been leading the way in alerting us to the growing problem of climate change and pleading with us to change our consumerist ways.  Most recently, McKibben has been the spokesperson for 350, a non-profit that elevates this work of educating and calling for change.  McKibben’s new book, EAARTH: Making Life on a Tough New Planet, makes a case for the work of 350 and offers hope that we adapt to life in world where fossil fuels are not the predominant source of energy.  EAARTH (McKibben has said in interviews that we need to “channel our inner Schwarzenegger” in order to say the title: URRRTH) is basically divided into two parts, the first is an exposition of the problems that climate change is wreaking and will continue to wreak; in the second part of the book, he begins to imagine what a world less reliant on fossil fuels might look like.

The first half of the book paints a stark picture: global temperatures are rising, glaciers are melting and there is an “historic level of CO2 in the atmosphere.”  And not only are these ecological problems escalating, their effects are being felt most powerfully among the poorest peoples of the world.  In spite of all the evidence that McKibben provides, some critics will likely accuse him of exaggeration.  The question that I would pose to such critics, and especially those who identify themselves as followers of Christ, is what good and selfless reason do we have for not reducing our consumption of fossil fuels?

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A Review of Saving the Seasons. How to Can, Freeze or Dry Almost Anything. Mary Clemens Meyer and Susanna Meyer. Paperback: Herald Press, 2010. Buy now: [ ChristianBook.com ] Reviewed by Kate Roden.

Scroll down to the end of the review
for the recipe for Strawberry Freezer Jam
from this book!

Saving the Seasons is the newest cookbook from the publishers of the trifecta of beloved Mennonite cookbooks: Simply in Season, More with Less, and Extending the Table. This new work lives up to and expands the ideals of its predecessors.

In the nearly 35 years since More with Less first appeared on the scene, American kitchens have undergone some big changes, and not just in the shift from “autumn harvest” appliance colors to stainless steel.  In much of the country, the locavore movement is in full swing, folks are prioritizing where their food comes from and how it gets to them. They are looking for farmer’s markets and buying up farm shares and subscriptions on such sites as http://www.localharvest.org/csa/.   Vegetable gardens, chicken coops and beehives are popping up in urban neighborhoods, and with the current DIY climate, and the financial necessities many families are facing, the More with Less approach to homemaking has new relevance.

The upsurge in interest in various arts of domesticity and homesteading means this book comes out at exactly the right time for a new group of novice gardeners who are wondering what exactly they are supposed to do with the 10 pounds of pickling cucumbers they accidentally grew.

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Our friends Kevin Rains and Aaron Klinefelter are coordinating an effort in Cincinnati to explore what a “Curriculum for Christlikeness” might look like. Over the next 10 months, they will host a monthly topical gathering for conversation and learning.

The first session will be on “SoulKeeping” and will be led by Dave Nixon.
Saturday, September 4: 10AM-12PM
St. Elizabeth’s – 1757 Mills Ave. – Cincinnati

This promises to be an exciting course!
If you are in the general vicinity of Cincinnati, you won’t want to miss it!

More info:  http://formed.cc/

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We  have recently made a slight change to our format and the reviews, excerpts, poems, etc. of our Midweek update will be posted to “pages” on the ERB website, and announced via social media.  If you’re a “first-to-know” sort of person, you can get these updates when they first come out in one of two ways:

• Our Facebook Page.
• Our Twitter Feed.

Midweek postings from this past week:

• Brief Review: Francis Chan DVD: FEAR GOD (Basic Series #1)

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In our continuing effort to fund the publication and free distribution of The Englewood Review, we are going to be collaborating more intentionally with Christian Book Distributors. Primarily, we will be offering you the opportunity to buy bargain books from CBD that we think of are interest. Buying books this way is a win / win / win proposition. You get great books for a great price, CBD gets the sale and we get an excellent referral fee from CBD.

This week’s Bargains:

	Westminster Dictionary of Early Christian Literature By David E. Aune, ed. / Westminster John Knox Press $12.99 – Save 74% This book details the variety of literary and rhetorical forms found in the New Testament and in the literature of the early Christian church. This authoritative reference source is a treasurey for understanding the methods employed by New Testament and early Christian writers. This encyclopedia will illuminate the ways words shaped the consciousness of those who encountered Christiam teaching.
	Dissident Daughters: Feminist Liturgies in Global Contexts By Westminster John Knox Press $2.99 – Save 90%!!! With its focus on narratives, its attention to contextual and material realities, and its collection of women-identified liturgies in global context, Dissident Daughters claims prominence within the growing literature on women’s ways of worship. This book not only introduces liturgical texts, but also focuses on the communities that create and celebrate these liturgies. Dissident Daughters gives voice to women activitsts who show how their communities came into being; how social, cultural, and political realities shaped them and their liturgies; and how they envision their lives in and as communities of faith. In drawing the different narratives together, Dissident Daughters displays the expanse fo the worldwide expression of women’s rites and the formation of each by distinctly different contexts of struggle and hope.
	God, Truth, and Witness: Essays in Conversation with Stanley Hauerwas By Edited by L.G. Jones, R. Hutter & C.R. Velloso Ewell Hardback: Brazos Press. $5.99 – Save 85%!!!
	The Divine Voice By Stephen H. Webb / Baker $2.99 – Save 89%!!! What can the primordial nature of noise, speech, and hearing teach us about what it means to be speakers and hearers of God’s Word? In this thoughtful work, Webb explores philosophical concepts including “Theo-acoustics,” “The Protestant Reformation As an Event Within the History of Sound,” and “The Sound of God.” 244 pages, softcover from Brazos.
	Lying: An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity By Paul J. Griffiths / Baker $3.99 – Save 86%!!! Is lying ever justified? Exploring the Augustinian pronouncement that telling a lie is always wrong, Griffiths examines Augustine’s belief that dissembling disfigures the image of God; contrasts Augustine’s thought with the ideas of Plato, Jerome, Aquinas, Kant, Nietzsche, and others; and argues that Christians should heed Augustine’s ban on lying.

**** Website is being updated regularly!!! *****

A Rooted People:
Church, Place and Agriculture
in an Urban World

Registration and more info:

http://englewoodcc.com/rooted/

Spread the word with
the Facebook e-vite…

Ours is a world in which transportation is becoming extremely costly (as was highlighted by the massive costs of the BP Oil Spill) and yet at the same time is a world that is becoming increasingly urban. Common sense would seem to indicate that these trends will impact in a major way our food systems and the way we eat. Given these factors, what is the church’s redemptive role in caring for the health and wholeness (shalom) of not just humanity, but all creation? Englewood Christian Church has invited several speakers with rich experiences in sustainable agriculture to lead a conversation reflecting on this question and related ones about church, place, food, community and agriculture, and we invite you to join us.

Speakers:
* Fred Bahnson: Writer and Co-founder of Anathoth Community Garden

* Claudio Oliver:
Pastor and community developer from urban Curitiba, Brazil.

* Martin Price:
Former Director of Educational Concerns For Hunger Organization (ECHO)

* Ragan Sutterfield:
Arkansas Farmer/Writer, Author of FARMING AS A SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE

Workshops Lead By :
Will Samson and others TBA

When: Friday Oct. 29 and Saturday Oct. 30, 2010

Where: Englewood Christian Church / Indianapolis

A Brief Review of Battling to the End: Conversations with Benoît Chantre. René Girard. Paperback: Michigan State Univ. Press, 2009. Buy now:  [ Amazon ] Reviewed by Chris Smith.

For several years now, I have been intrigued by René Girard’s mimetic theory and the way in which it portrays our human proclivities to violence.  Thus, I was excited to hear about his newest book Battling to the End: Conversations with Benoît Chantre, which captures a conversation about a little-known military text of the nineteenth century, Carl von Clausevitz’s On War, and its relevance for understanding the world today.  Although this book does require that the reader have some background understanding of Girard’s mimetic theory, Battling to the End is, in its conversational format, perhaps the most readable of Girard’s books.  This new volume is also a divergence from Girard’s previous work in that it examines mimetic theory in the context of recent historical events, whereas Girard’s previous works have focused on developing mimesis within literary or biblical texts.  Girard’s keen exposition of recent history, makes this book essential reading for those of us who seek to understand the place of Christianity in a world of escalating violence.  Consider, for instance, the following passage:

In a French newspaper I said concerning September 11 that Muslims and Westerners were twins.  That was nothing new.  In fact, we can wonder to what extent the excesses of the Crusades in the thirteenth century were not mimetic responses to the Jihad, of which we are now suffering the consequences in Europe and the Middle East. … We need to undertake historical studies, both longitudinal and at different levels, of the conditions for the trend to the extremes.  This would show that it is against that baleful tendency that the institution of war (as we know it today) was gradually established in an attempt to control what was less and less controllable.  The rise in violence happens behind the actors’ backs (41 – parenthesis added for clarification).

Girard emphasizes throughout his work that Christianity is distinct among the faiths in the way that understands violence.  In our age of ever-escalating violence, the time has come for the Church to reflect on Girard’s work.  When read in conjunction with one of his earlier works in which he more clearly defines mimetic theory (e.g., Violence and the Sacred), Battling to the End would serve as an excellent guide to lead us into conversation about the meaning of our faith in a violent world.  Maybe, just maybe, Girard’s work will serve – to use the words with which he concludes this volume – to “wake up our sleeping consciences”!

“The Signs of Life ”
Liberty Hyde Bailey

[ from Wind and Weather: Poems --
Read the Book's Intro ]

Ha, ye dead thing upon the ground
How few of ye I’ve ever found
And I have tramped it far and wide
By wood and wash and ripple-side!

And often have I wondered where
The bodies of the dead misfare, —
Of all the multitudes of those
The variegated life compose
Of field and sea and air and earth
Throughout the planet’s spacious girth.

Some pass life’s full allotted span;
On some there is the ’scapeless ban
That takes them early to the pit—
Where be the graves of the unfit?

But soon or late the day is sped
And strong and weak alike are dead,
They meet the summons where they are
And ev’ry death is singular;
And yet these millions pass unseen
And leave scant trace to intervene.

The gaps fill in; the earth is rife
With energy that mastereth;—
The upward signs of birth and life
Are greater than the signs of death.