Book Review: God Matters by Herbert McCabe

I want to teach like Herbert McCabe writes. He takes the nearly-thousand-year-old ideas of Thomas Aquinas and sharpens them to fine points, then uses them to poke holes in all manner of shoddy thinking. He is a Dominican who writes so clearly about transubstantiation and the Immaculate Conception that they make sense to even this Protestant scientist. My understanding of sacraments, Holy Week, creation, even time itself was expanded by this book. The worst part is when other scholars write a chapter or so and he argues back and forth with them. These other scholars are good, but it's like sunspots, they look dark even though they're bright because they are against the backdrop of the sun itself. I find McCabe's politics challenging and (since most of this was written in the 80's) not quite as applicable, but still, it's a genuine loss for us that we don't have him around to comment on today's events.

Book Review: The Image of the City by Charles Williams

As a collection of essays, it's hard to give this a single rating. Three of the essays are as good as anything I've read: "Natural Goodness," "The Cross," and "The Way of Exchange." I assigned the first of the three in class to talk about the Fall and the Problem of Evil; the third of the three deserves to be taken seriously by anyone who thinks relationship and narrative should affect theology (by which I mean it deserved to be taken seriously by everyone). Williams coined the phrase "holy Luck" to describe the chance events that bring people into our spheres of influence, and months later I find myself still thinking of that. His theology of "exchange" may be more relevant now than it was in the 1940's. It's not all this powerful: I find the first section and last section to be least relevant because they are very literary and focused on Williams's Arthurian writing, which I have not read. But as for the high points of this book, there's nothing higher.

Book Review: Outlines of Romantic Theology by Charles Williams

There are two rules for reading Charles Williams: 1.) The later the better and 2.) The more about Dante the better. This book proves them both. The first half is an earlier set of several chapters where he outlines his ideas about "romantic theology." It's fine, but not vintage -- he's still working out his ideas and his Biblical analysis is a distinct angle but seems too constricted. The second half is a later essay that is a distilled version of The Figure of Beatrice and it boils down his insights to a 180-proof version. Probably the most accessible and best combo of pages vs. content that you'll find for this author.

Book Review: I'm Thinking of Ending Things

This is a nifty little book that doesn't overstay its welcome. I expect a book like this to have good twists and a genuinely creepy atmosphere, but there's a few character moments and subtle details that make it a cut above the rest. I almost wonder if it would be better if some key information were not deliberately withheld to give it some twists near the end. A good choice for an audiobook, too.

Invisible Power and the Role of the Artist

Fascinating interview with a filmmaker in Artspace that I found inspiring for my own writing. Here's the key quote, which focuses on invisible political power:

"The current system of power is fundamentally pretty invisible to us. It resides in finance, in all sorts of new kinds of management, and within computers and the media, which involves invisible algorithms that shape and manage what information we get. I think one of the most beautiful things artists and journalists can do at this moment in time is to be sympathetic and understanding to the people who voted for Brexit and Trump, and then bring to the fore the invisible power structures that those people feel completely distanced from so that they know where power is. And do it in such a way that isn’t obscure so people like me don’t have to read it three times just to understand it. Do it in a way that really grabs ordinary people’s imaginations."

This is what science writing does, in a way -- it brings to the fore the invisible power structures that shaped our world, although because those power structures are natural and bigger than humans, there's a lot different to the implications than the ones described in this quote or this interview.

As the subtitle to A World from Dust puts it, it tells "how the periodic table shaped life." The periodic table is an invisible power structure! And chemistry is the science of finding it out.

Book Review: Abaddon's Gate

Book #3 of the Expanse manages to elevate the story from a very high level to an all-time-great level. For a series so rich in plot and invention, I struggle with how to review it without spoiling it (even the first sentence of the summary of Book #4 spoiled the ultimate result of this book for me!). Suffice it to say that my minor complaints from the first two books are turned into strengths in this one: in this universe, faith is realistically important, complex enough to be both good and bad, and even crucial to what the book is saying (I actually teared up at the major character turning point of forgiveness and trust). My other minor complaint was the slow reveal of alien purposes and intelligence, but that is mostly because the characters move through so much plot (they really put you through the wringer) that the alien part of the plot seems slow by comparison. I have some hunches about how that will play out, but it's really being strung out masterfully. This whole series is a masterclass in story, and Abaddon's Gate both surprises you and ups the game at the same time while avoiding cliché yet keeping everything thoroughly grounded in the universe we know. This series is very much worth the time for the science-oriented sci-fi reader.

Book Review: The Slavery of Death by Richard Beck

This little book is poor in pages but rich in substance. Part of the reason my book-reviewing pace has been so slow over the past few months is that I read this slowly and deliberately. Beck combines the Eastern Orthodox theology of Christus Victor with the psychology of death neurosis and personal experience (both his own and that of Therese of Lisieux). The result is new and old things brought out from the starting point of the verse from Hebrews that Jesus released us from the slavery of the fear of death. The best book to pair with this volume of the Little Way is NT Wright's huge tome on The Resurrection of the Son of God. Even though on the surface they look very different, both are works through which the Spirit spoke into my life, and I can still hear the resonant echoes.