Interview Book Review
Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age by Samuel JamesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Insightful. My “review” this time will consist of the questions I wrote up for an interview I’m doing with the author: My guest today on Logos Live is the only writer whose Substack I actually pay for personally. He’s an editor for Crossway and someone who writes with perception and aplomb. I was very much interested when I heard that he’d written a book on digital technology and its...
A Few Quotes from The Genesis of Gender by Abigail Favale
The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory by Abigail Rine Favale My rating: 4 of 5 stars Well written, provocatively helpful—provocative because she was schooled in evangelicalism (which makes her like me) and in feminist theory (which makes her not like me)—and is now a Catholic (which makes her both like and unlike me). Here are just a few quotes I found helpful, out of many I saved: There is a profound irony here. Through the vehicle of feminist theory, the concept of gender has displaced...
Review: Comanche Empire
The Comanche Empire by Pekka Hämäläinen This excellent book does what modern history is supposed to do nowadays: it gives a voice to the voiceless and the marginalized; it gives agency to the victims. And yet you can’t always predict what will happen when you go around handing out agency to historical groups like the powerful Comanches of the 18th–19th centuries. When you give agency to people, you are compelled to acknowledge their faults and not just their strengths. This book demonstrates...
Answering a Question about Political Philosophy
A friend asked me for my thinking—and my reading recommendations—on Christian political philosophy. I was pretty frank and open. I don't hold myself up as a master of the topic. I welcome input from others here. What should I read? What should my friend read? My leading light here is Jonathan Leeman. You've already read his popular-level book How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age; have you read his academic treatise, Political Church: The Local Assembly as...
Review: Means of Ascent
Means of Ascent by Robert A. CaroMy rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is positively monumental. How does Caro do it? Well, I know how he does it. I read his book on the topic. He does it with a lot of hard and humble work (and some excellent help from his wife). I was enthralled by Caro's depiction of Coke Stevenson, and as soon as his qualities started becoming evident (which was at a very young age), I knew just what story arc Caro was planning. He was going to set up the honest man (Stevenson)...