Tag: books

My Favorites From 2013

Below is a list of my favorite books, articles, and tweets from 2013. Not all of them were actually written in 2013, but I read them in 2013 and since this is my site, I get to make that kind of illogical decision. Enjoy!

Books

A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

Winner of a 2003 Pulitzer Prize, Samantha Power’s A Problem From Hell weaves through several cases of genocide in the 20th century and contends that America’s response to such mass killing was shockingly indifferent. Well-researched, insightful and painfully poignant, I found her arguments to be overwhelmingly convincing. Power was recently appointed as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, which was what prompted me to read the book, and this is a great way to introduce yourself to her and the point-of-view she brings to that position.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

A finalist for a 2013 Pulitzer Prize, Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers tells the story of families pushing for economic advancement in Annawadi, a slum community in India. From beginning to end, the book had me absolutely captivated. The stories are raw and often times gut-wrenching. This is a highly-readable book by an accomplished author (Boo has previously won a 2000 Pulitzer Prize for work published in The Washington Post) and I could not recommend it enough.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

I’m not usually big on history/biography books, but I had heard too much about this definitive book of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency to ignore it any longer. Written by Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals tells the remarkable (and unlikely) story of Lincoln’s rise to the presidency in the midst of a fractured political landscape. What I found most surprising about this book was how easy it was to read. It’s not at all stuffy or dense and Goodwin does an excellent job of connecting you to each of the characters surrounding Lincoln. As an aside, Lincoln, the 2012 movie directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, is based on the second half of Team of Rivals and makes an excellent companion to the book.

Fight: A Christian Case for Non-Violence

I’ve done a lot of thinking about the issue of pacifism vs. just war theory in the past year or so and I found Fight by Preston Sprinkle to be incredibly helpful. With arguments rooted deeply in scripture, Sprinkle does a great job of making his case for non-violence without shying away from any of the prickly points that the topic presents, especially considering the amount of violence found in the Old Testament. Sprinkle’s humble and honest approach to an issue that typically inspires an unhealthy amount of heated rhetoric shines throughout the book – this isn’t the angry writings of a scholar unhinged from reality, it’s an even-handed presentation that you would expect from a thoughtful pastor.

Status Anxiety

Alain de Botton’s Status Anxiety explores a fear we all inevitably confront – what is our standing in society? De Botton tackles five causes of this ‘status anxiety’ – lovelessness, expectation, meritocracy, snobbery and dependence – and then presents five solutions – philosophy, art, politics, religion and bohemianism. Akin to my stereotype that history books are stuffy and hard to read, I thought this philosophy book would be the same. I couldn’t have been more wrong. De Botton effortlessly pulls from a wide range of sources, making each section fun and highly readable. It’s not a shallow, preachy, approach to the subject either. The final result is less a definitive answer to status anxiety and more like a fresh of breath of air that works to alleviate our concerns.

Honorable Mention:

The End of Our Exploring: A Book about Questioning and the Confidence of Faith

Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me: A Memoir… of Sorts

Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

For a full list of books I read this year, click here.

Articles

The Prophets of Oak Ridge from The Washington Post

An amazing piece of investigative journalism and new media presentation by The Washington Post about three activists who break into a nuclear-weapons facility.

David Foster Wallace on Life and Work from The Wall Street Journal

An adaption from a commencement speech that David Foster Wallace gave at Kenyon College in 2005. Wallace was as insightful as they come and this was him at his best.

From Here You Can See Everything in The Morning News

Part commentary on David Foster Wallace’s book Infinite Jest and part evaluation on our culture of obsessive media consumption. Critical and rightfully poignant.

Why We Have Debt from Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendency

A direct quote from the article: “If a candidate for national office says that the deficit and Federal debt is a crisis and out of control, but does not provide a plan to rectify the differences in healthcare spending and revenues, that candidate is being disingenuous.” Read this before you cast your next congressional, senatoral and presidential votes.

Redeeming Holy Days from Pagan Lies — Hallowe’en: A Short History from The Brothers of John the Steadfast

A highly-detailed explanation as to why Halloween isn’t a pagan holiday to be shunned and cursed. A little dense, but ultimately worth your time.

Tweets

Leaping Like Impalas

I recently finished an excellent little book called “Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me: A Memoir… of Sorts” by Ian Morgan Cron. As the title suggests, it is a memoir (of sorts) about a young boy who grew up with a largely absent father who worked for the CIA. Cron is an excellent story-teller with a flair for a certain sarcastic humor that I couldn’t get enough of. My favorite story had to be the below excerpt, in which he describes his first encounter in a more, shall we say, enthusiastic church setting.

The service had already started when we got into the sanctuary. I was there all of five minutes before I realized that Tyler’s explanation about this experience being different was grossly understated. Episcopalians pride themselves on restraint and single-digit golf handicaps. They don’t jump, sing, and wave their hands over their heads unless they’re being electrocuted or thrown from a plane. Neither do Episcopalians frolic around sanctuaries, brandishing on raised poles big banners with tongues of fire and doves embroidered on them. Their services don’t include generously proportioned middle-aged women leaping like impalas down the aisles, trailing colored streamers in their wake (“dancing in the Spirit,” as Tyler called it). I saw investment bankers speaking in tongues and women dressed in boiled wool suits who resembled Barbara Bush being “slain in the Spirit.” It looked to me like a mob of well-sugared five-year-olds dancing the hokey-pokey, only less organized.[1]

“Generously proportioned middle-aged women leaping like impalas.” I nearly fell out of my chair after reading that. Anyway, it’s a fun book and you should read it.

  1. Cron, Ian Morgan (2011–06–07). Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me: A Memoir… of Sorts (pp. 170–171). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  ↩

The Art of Ending

Henry Wadsworth Longfollow once said “Great is the art of the beginning, but greater is the art of ending.” It’s a thought provoking statement and is the opening quote in a book I’ve been reading called “Necessary Endings” by Dr. Henry Cloud. I am working through some “endings” in my life right now, and as such I am finding it to be a deeply profound book that speaks to me on a number of levels. It may or may not have the same effect on you, but I recommend you give it a read through at some point in your life. Due to the simple cycles of life, there will be some point at which you need to end a relationship or walk away from a job or [insert any number of things that apply] and start out on a new course, a new direction. When those difficult times come, the principles and applications presented by Dr. Cloud will certaintly help you as you navigate those decisions.

One of the first concepts put forth in the book is that even though “endings” are sometimes difficult and painful, that is not an excuse to just not have them. Just becuase it might mean an awkward conversation or just becuase it entails sacrifices you don’t want to make does not mean that it is okay to just avoid them. Dr. Cloud uses an example of getting a nagging tooth pulled. The tooth is causing you a lot of discomfort, but just becuase you don’t want to experience the pain of having it pulled by the dentist doesn’t mean that it is the right decision to just deal with that discomfort for the rest of your life. Such a decision would just be stupid. Yeah, it might hurt to have the tooth pulled, but once it’s done, it’s done, you don’t have to worry about a constantly nagging tooth anymore. While the example might be trivial, the principle rings true; just becuase an ending is painful, does not mean it is okay to avoid it. Dr. Cloud puts it this way, “There is a big difference between hurt and harm. We all hurt sometimes in facing hard truths , but it makes us grow. It can be a source of huge growth. That is not harmful. Harm is when you damage someone. Facing reality is usually not a damaging expereince, even though it can hurt a little.”

For reasons I won’t extrapolate here, this simple concept really spoke to me. I cannot count how many times I have let the perceived pain of “ending” something, whether it be a relationship, a bad habit, or a rotten attitude, has hindered me from following through with that “ending”, even though in the long run it would have been extremely beneficial. As I sat in my big leather chair and let this simple concept seep into my heart and wander through the corridors of my past, I suddenly found myself thinking of Jesus and the cross. I thought out loud, “Wow, dying on the cross was an incredible “ending” for Jesus, one that was more difficult then I could ever imagine.” I began to remember how he had warned of his impending death to his closest friends in Matthew 26. I mean, take a moment and play that conversation through your mind.

Jesus: Hey guys, I’m going to die soon. And not only am I going to die, but I’m going to die in the most shamful of ways. I’m going to be publicy mocked, brutally beaten, and then hung up on a cross on the side of the road like thousands of other criminals.

Disciples: [Silence]

Jesus: But don’t worry guys, I will rise from the dead after three days and in the process make a way of salvation for the whole entire world.

Disciples: [More silence] Say that first part again; you’re going to die?

I don’t know about you, but it would take a significant amount of will power for me to be able to sit down and have that kind of conversation with anyone, let alone with my closest friends. I mean, I hated telling my mom when I got a bad grade at school and I recognize that my introverted personality has a lot to do with that, but still. You have to recognize that was one huge conversation to have. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “I dropped the bomb on [insert person] today.” Well, this conversation is the new standard for “dropped the bomb”. There isn’t anyone who has ever disclosed such a massive dose of heart-wrenching news on another human being in the history of the world. Here is Jesus, the man who heals leprosy, who tells the wind and the waves what to do, and who claims to be the Son Of God, telling his closest friends that he is going to allow himself to be murdered.

Fast forwarding a little bit and switching perspectives, can you imagine how John must have felt as he sat at the foot of the cross, doing is best to console Mary, watching his closest friend slip away under the grip of death. This is the guy who he left his job for, his family for, his future for. He left everything he knew for this man named Jesus. This was the guy who was supposed to bring freedom to your nation. And here that man is, stripped naked, beaten beyond recognition, hanging on a cross and dying the death of a common criminal. I can only imagine John sitting there and whispering through the tears, “Why? Why is this happening right now? This is not the ending I had envisioned.”

Switching back to Jesus, now hanging on the cross with the sins of the world resting on his shoulders, he looks up to heaven and utters that ridiculous phrase, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” The ending is painful and dark, but in the midst of that Jesus feels it necessary to pronounce forgiveness over his executioners. And remember, he is willingly “ending” his life in this manner. He willingly walked this road, a road that has caused him to sweat drops of blood under the stress, to be beaten in such a way that chunks of flesh are violently ripped from his body, and to endure the full wrath of a holy God. This is the ending that he has chosen. As I think on these things, I cannot help but sit and weep. It moves me. I ask, “Why Jesus? Why would you willingly choose such an ending?” Of course, I know the answer to that question; I know that this ending was necessary for the salvation of the world. But right now, there is something about this ending that I cannot shake. I cannot so quickly jump to that answer without first taking time to recognize the mammoth implications of this most spectacular of endings. He will rise again in three days, but right now, this ending sucks. He will defeat death, but right now, in the silence following his last breath, this ending is the worst case scenario. The creator of the universe has just died. The one who brings forth life by the mere uttering of words is hanging lifeless on a wooden cross.

It was a painful ending that his friends didn’t initially understand. It was a gruesome ending that I struggle to visualize because of the sheer violence of the whole ordeal. But nonetheless, in spite of physical pain, in spite of confusing of his friends, it was an ending that Jesus willingly made. He knew that these temporary pain points would quickly make way for the biggest rescue operation ever done. He knew that there was no other way to rescue humanity then to walk the dark road of ending his life. His focus was crystal clear and in hindsight it is quite apparent that nothing would stop him, not even the emotional pain experienced by his own mother and his closest friends.

So with all of that said, I ask myself and I ask you an important question; what do you need to end in your life, right now? Is there a relationship that is sapping energy out of you? Is there a bad habit that is stunting your growth? Is there a job that is standing in the way of your God given purpose? Has the whisper of a sinful world enslaved your mind and imprisoned your imagination? Trust me, I’ll be the first to admit that I hate conflict and the idea of a painful ending just makes me want to roll my eyes and go watch a movie or some other mind-numbing activity, but as Dr. Cloud and as our savior, Jesus, have so aptly demonstrated, just because an ending is painful, does not mean that it is not necessary. If Jesus didn’t end his life at the cross, then He never would have risen on the third day and if you don’t let the dentist take out that nagging tooth, its going to nag you for the rest of your life. I encourage you to take some time to do two things today.

First, I encourage you to sit down and really contemplate the ending of Christ. Think about the courage that He had as He went head to head with sin and death. Think about the how He did that so that you might have life and have it more abundantly. Give thanks and take a moment to audibly praise Him for the sacrifice that He so willing endured on your behalf. Second, I encourage you to use his example as fuel and motivation to go and end that “something” in your life that you know so desperately needs to be ended. It might be painful, the conversation might be awkward, it might require a good dose of self-discipline, but it just might make way for the most incredible of beginnings. Or, as Dr. Cloud puts it, “Good cannot begin until bad ends.”

You can buy Dr. Cloud’s excellent book here.