Catholic Books I'm Looking Forward To: Robert Barron, Mike Aquilina, Marc Barnes, Brandon Vogt

Fall is new book publishing time and these beauties are almost ready to dive into. I've had them on my wish list for a while so I thought you might be interested too!

As secularism gains influence, and increasing numbers see religion as dull and backward, Robert Barron wants to illuminate how beautiful, intelligent, and relevant the Catholic faith is.

In this compelling new book—written in conversation with award-winning Vatican journalist John L. Allen, Jr.—Barron proclaims in vivid language the goodness and truth of the Catholic tradition.

Touching on everything from Jesus to prayer, science, movies, atheism, the spiritual life, the fate of Church in modern times, beauty, art, and social media, Barron reveals why the Church matters today and how Catholics can intelligently engage a skeptical world.

You can hear John Allen and Bishop Barron discuss the upcoming book on this Word on Fire podcast episode. I was particularly intrigued by what Allen says about WOF as an apostolate. I really loved Allen's book with Timothy Dolan and this promises to be just as good. Can't wait to read this one!

The history of the Church didn't take place shrouded in the mists of time. It actually happened and continues to happen through things that we can see and sometimes hold in our hand.

The Christian answer to Neil MacGregor's New York Times bestseller A History of the World in 100 Objects, Mike and Grace Aquilina's A History of the Church in 100 Objects introduces you to:

• The Cave of the Nativity (the importance of history, memory, and all things tangible)
• Catacomb niches (the importance of Rome, bones, and relics of the faith)
• Ancient Map of the World (the undoing of myths about medieval science)
• Stained Glass (representative of Gothic cathedrals)
• The Holy Grail (Romance literature and the emergence of writing for the laity)
• Loaves and fish (a link from Jesus to the sacrament of the Eucharist)
• The Wittenberg Door (Martin Luther and the onset of the Reformation)

I've mentioned this one before but wanted to bring it up since it is coming out fairly soon. So, Mike Aquilina - it's a given I'll love it. I'm looking forward to reading his collaboration with his daughter as well as an insightful look at those 100 objects.

Marc Barnes first cared about being Catholic, "not out of any profound love for the person of Christ, but out of a profound distaste for my other options." After exploring the options of the secular world, Barnes came to the conclusion that even the secular world isn't secular enough. In fact, it is hopelessly Christian.

Through these essays Barnes exposes the hopelessly Catholic nature of our fallen world, and the joyous news that, even for the bad Catholic or the non-Catholic, there is nowhere to hide from the Truth. The beauty of Christ's love can be found even in the most secular of circumstances.

I've liked Marc Barnes' Bad Catholic blog for a long time, so this one is a no-brainer. Agree or disagree, you'll usually wind up laughing and nodding and ... thinking. And all of those are good things, so of course I'm eagerly anticipating this one!

With atheism on the rise and millions tossing off religion, why would anyone consider the Catholic Church? Brandon Vogt shares his passionate search for truth, a journey that culminated in the realization that Catholicism was right about a lot of things, maybe even everything.

Why I Am Catholic traces Vogt’s spiritual journey, making a refreshing, twenty-first century case for the faith and answering questions being asked by agnostics, nones, and atheists. With references to Catholic thinkers such as G. K. Chesterton, Ven. Fulton Sheen, St. Teresa of Calcutta, and Bishop Robert Barron, Vogt draws together lines of evidence to help seekers discover why they should be Catholic as an alternative.

I'm a fan of Brandon Vogt's (see my review for his book Saints and Social Justice). His passion for the faith has led him to discuss it in a lot of places and he's now the content manager at Word on Fire, Bishop Barron's ministry. I have been looking forward to reading his spiritual journey from "none" to Catholicism ever since I heard about this book.

Genesis Notes: Dealing With Temptation

GENESIS 39
We could never have a better model for dealing with temptation than looking at how Joseph dealt with Potiphar's wife who would just not take no for an answer.

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, Jean-Baptiste Nattier

Joseph provides a true model of strength in the face of temptation, which recognizes the danger of remaining in its presence. "Shun immorality!" Paul says in I Cor. 6:18. Other translators prefer the word "flee." Joseph did both: he refused Potiphar's wife, shunning her suggestions, and then fled when she didn't listen. It is not cowardice to run from such temptation, it is common sense. Sexual immorality may entice but its ultimate end is death. St. Paul speaks elsewhere (see, for example, I Cor. 10:13 and Heb. 4:15-16) of the mercy and grace that God provides to help us endure and escape temptation, and says that God will not allow us to be tempted above our strength. What was Joseph's secret? Vs. 21 says it all: "But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison."

Genesis II: God and His Family

Thinking of Joseph and temptation is an obvious theme for this story. What is not so obvious is thinking of how Potiphar reacted to his wife's accusation of Joseph's attempted rape. Leave it to C.S. Lewis to examine the story more deeply for what it shows us about everyone involved.

Reflection on the story raised in my mind a problem I never happened to have thought of before: why was Joseph imprisoned, and not killed, by Potiphar? Surely it seems extraordinarily mild treatment for attempted rape of a great lady by a slave? Or must one assume that Potiphar, tho' ignorant of the lady's intention to make him a cuckold, was aware in general ... that her stories about the servante were to be taken with a grain of salt—that his real view was "I don't suppose for a moment that Joseph did anything of the sort, but I foresee there'll be no peace till I get him out of the house?" One is tempted to begin to imagine the whole life of the Potiphar family: e.g. how often had he heard similar stories from her before?

C.S. Lewis from a letter to his brother, February 25, 1940

via The C.S. Lewis Bible

Scripture is so rich. Reading the stories again and again leaves us the leisure, if we want to put it that way, to see just how much is in there for us.

Do You Like Pumpkin Pie? Then You Need This Ice Cream.

Fresh H-E-B milk, real dairy cream, Pumpkin, nutmeg and spices combine to create this exceptional holiday delight.

This is how brave we are. We tried it, even figuring that real pumpkin would make it pretty heavy and weirdly chewy for ice cream. Nope. It's silky, creamy, delicious and captures the essence of pumpkin pie.

Well Said: He'd never met The People

Vimes had spent his life on the streets, and had met decent men and fools and people who'd steal a penny from a blind beggar and people who performed silent miracles or desperate crimes every day behind the grubby windows of little houses, but he'd never met The People.

People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people.

As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they didn't measure up.

Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

I hear a lot of talk, especially these days, about action on behalf of "The People" of various labels without remembering what Pratchett reminds us of above.

Worth a Thousand Words: Windy evening at the coast

Windy evening at the coast, taken by Remo Savisaar

I can almost feel the sand between my toes and the wind blowing hard. Click through on the link to see this larger and take in the full beauty.

Well Said: Do you know how to live?

You want to live — but do you know how to live? You are scared of dying — and, tell me, is the kind of life you lead really any different from being dead?

Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

Seneca lived in first century Rome but these words echo loudly through the modern mindset and lifestyle. They make me think of a much later quote from a very different person. The sentiment is the same though.

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.

Oscar Wilde

Listen Up: BirdNote, Classic Tales, Jaws of Life, Rachel Watches Star Trek

Hannah recently began listening to podcasts and was asking for recommendations. Oh, I have so many!

My own Forgotten Classics podcast is on hiatus now but I tried to always have a new podcast suggestion to give in each episode. (Check the sidebar there for a wide range of suggestions.) Sharing new podcasts is the one thing I miss at the moment. So I'm going to drop a few here occasionally, ranging from old favorites to new discoveries.

You can find all of these at iTunes but most have more info at their websites so that's where the links go.

BirdNote is one of those shows that is a bite-sized nugget of information, about 2 minutes long. It airs every day, featuring fascinating information complete with bird calls and a great photo of that day's subject.

Recent entries included how an Emperor Penguin launches out of the water to get back to shore, the tiniest hummingbird (not much bigger than a bee), how the Jaeger pursues gulls to steal their fish mid-air, and a week-long series about migration (since it is that time of year).

It's a brief investment of time but always entertaining and I never miss it.

I'm not sure how long the Classic Tales Podcast has been running but I've been listening ever since I discovered podcasts (and that was many, many years ago, y'all). No one can beat B.J. Harrison's narrative style and I can't beat his podcast description so here you go:

Every week, join award-winning narrator B.J. Harrison as he narrates the greatest stories the world has ever known. From the jungles of South America to the Mississippi Delta, from Victorian England to the sands of the Arabian desert, join us on a fantastic journey through the words of the world's greatest authors. Critically-acclaimed and highly recommended for anyone who loves a good story with plenty of substance.

It's weekly and ranges in length from half an hour to an hour long. Another one I never miss each week.

Jaws of Life is fairly new but I've been enjoying it since the first episode. Two Catholic guys discuss different aspects of modern life in the light of the faith. It's weekly and about half an hour long.

Tim and Rob apply the jaws of life to release truth from the mangled mess of modernity. In each episode we bring light and levity to our encounter with the modern world, helping to bring the contagious joy of a holy life to a world so desperately in need of our witness.

Topics so far have included: Snuffing Out Hope: The Science of Grumbling, Bored at Mass, Fighting for Entertainment, Falling in Love with Vatican II, Recreation in a Culture of Comfort, and Funny Business: The Seriousness of Faith. I've listened to all of them except the one about fighting, which was distinctly more of a guy topic. I look forward to it every week.

Rachel Watches Star Trek is a new favorite of mine.

Chris loves Star Trek. Rachel has never watched it. Until now.

This is a podcast where Rachel and Chris talk about each episode of the original Star Trek Series, from the original pilot, getting her outsider’s perspective on one of the most influential Sci-fi shows of all time.

Rachel and Chris Lackey are pure fun to listen to whether you care about Star Trek or not. They cover an episode at a time and Rachel's comments are often hilarious, coming, as they do, from a perspective that is decades after the show aired.  They also often branch out into interesting conversation I wouldn't have expected, such as musing about leadership qualities after watching The Enemy Within.

Episodes are about half an hour long and come out once a month at best. So it isn't hard to catch up, even if you don't binge-listen the way I did.

Worth a Thousand Words: Suit Yourself

Suit Yourself, Karin Jurick

Karin Jurick's museum paintings are some of the most popular I share and I'm always so glad that she graciously gave me permission long ago to do so. She usually gives some background and context for the original being viewed or her own overall painting. Click through the link for more.

Well Said: A dealer in words

I am, by calling, a dealer in words; and words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. Not only do words infect, ergotise, narcotise, and paralyse, but they enter into and colour the minutest cells of the brain ...

Rudyard Kipling

I've begun listening to a lecture series by Michael Drout, Singers and Tales: Oral Tradition and the Roots of Literature. Between that and the strong impression that The Storytelling Animal (my review here) left upon me, I think we'd have to say Kipling is absolutely correct.

Genesis Notes: More About Judah's Story

GENESIS 38
Chapter 38 of Genesis has a lot of elements that really need cultural context for us to get the point. That happens when you've got prostitution as a main feature of a story. (And people are always saying how nice the Bible is. Nope - it gets right down to brass tacks.)

Here are some useful details in fully understanding the implications of everyone's actions in the story of Judah.

Judah and Tamar, school of Rembrandt

PROSTITUTES IN CANAAN
Why does this story seem to take a light view of prostitution? Prostitutes were common in pagan cultures such as Canaan. Public prostitutes served the Canaanite goddesses and were common elements of the religious cults. Fornication was encouraged to improve fertility in crops and flocks. They were more highly respected than private prostitutes who were sometimes punished when caught. Tamar was driven to seduce Judah because of her intense desire to have children and be the matriarch of Judah's oldest line; Judah was driven by his lust. Neither case was justified.

WOMEN IN CANAAN
Why was Judah so open about his relations with a prostitute, yet ready to execute his daughter-in-law for being one? To understand this apparent contradiction, we must understand the place of women in Canaan. A woman's most important function was bearing children who would perpetuate the family line. To ensure that children belonged to the husband, the bride was expected to be a virgin and the wife was expected to have relations only with him. If a woman committed adultery, she could be executed. Some women, however did not belong to families. They might be shrine prostitutes supported by offerings or common prostitutes supported by the men who used their services. Their children were nobody's heirs, and men who hired them adulterated nobody's bloodlines.

Judah saw no harm in hiring a prostitute for a night; after all, he was more than willing to pay. He was ready to execute Tamar, however, because if she was pregnant as a result of prostitution, his grandchild would not be part of his family line. Apparently the question of sexual morality never entered Judah's mind; his concern was for keeping his inheritance in the family. Ironically, it was Tamar, not Judah, who acted to provide him with legal heirs. By seducing him, she acted more in the spirit of the law than he did when he refused to send his third son to her.

This story in no way implies that God winks at prostitution. Throughout Scripture, prostitution is condemned as a serious sin If the story has a moral, it is that faithfulness to family obligations is important. Incidentally, Judah and Tamar are direct ancestors of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1-6).

All quotes from Life Application Study Bible. This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Thank You for Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare

I was surprised and delighted to find Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare delivered to my door this morning. I don't know who sent me this gift, but thank you! This is a book I felt I was going to have to keep until the library demanded it back (and with 99 renewals, that could be a long time). Now I have my very own copy to peruse. I have been meaning to review it so this is a good opportunity.

Shakespeare's genius is marked by his rare ability to appeal to theatergoers of all types and all levels of education. But for most modern folks, the Greek and Roman mythology and history, let alone the history of England and the geography of sixteenth-century Europe that his works are laden with, are hardly within our grasp. Isaac Asimov comes to making obscure issues clear to the layperson, selects key passages from 38 of the great bard's plays plus two of his narrative poems and, with the help of beautifully rendered maps an figures, illuminates us about their historical and mythological background.

When Scott and I discussed Hamlet recently, it prompted me to request Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare from the library. Rose laughed when she saw it because, like most people, she thought of him solely as a science fiction author. However, Isaac Asimov wrote over 400 books during his lifetime, many on factual subjects. I'd glanced through his guides to the Old and New Testaments and found them informative, even if I felt he sometimes over-reached in conclusions about theology. Indeed, our pastor told me that he sometimes uses those books as reference materials for historical context.

In the Shakespearean case, I was delighted with the material on the plays I sampled in Asimov's book. Asimov explains possible sources for Shakespeare's story ideas, gives historical context which includes maps and family trees, and explains cultural ideas that the audience would have understood at the time but that may escape us. This includes every literary, historical, or mythological allusion explained so that we don't have to wonder what's being gotten at.

Asimov also gives his commentary on the plays as he explains the story.

... It isn't generally pointed out that Claudius' predicament in this play is exactly that of Hamlet. Hamlet wants to kill the King, but the King wants to kill Hamlet. Neither is safe as long as the other is alive. But the King, as well as Hamlet, cannot take the simple road and simply kill. The King is but new on the throne and can scarcely yet feel secure; to kill the son of the preceding King would easily raise enough hostility against himself to hurl him from the throng. Just as Hamlet needs to do more than merely kill the King, but must gain the throne too, so the King needs to do more than merely kill Hamlet, but must keep the throne too.

The comments are generally insightful although I sometimes felt he was over-reaching or reflecting too much thinking from the 1970s when he was writing. The frequent, though usually brief, attribution of close male friendship to homosexuality is one of those moments when we must recall we are under no obligation to agree with everything. And those moments are few and far between.

Asimov's style is fresh and personable, while his knowledge is encyclopedic. You can tell he loves these plays and is having a good time talking about them. And we have fun reading him. This is indeed a wonderful reference which anyone will treasure while diving into Shakespeare.

Again, thank you so much to my anonymous benefactor!

Worth a Thousand Words: Elegante Près d'une Source

Elegante Près d'une Source, Georges de Feure, circa 1903
Via Lines and Colors

Well Said: I gave you a brain and you never used it.

Intelligence and compassion are the heart of what it means to be human. Help others where you can. That is clear enough. But a Creator may well want us to open our eyes, as well. If there is a judgment. God may not be particularly interested in how many hymns we sang or what prayers we memorized. I suspect He may instead look at us and say, "I gave you a brain and you never used it. I gave you the stars and you never looked."

Jack McDevitt, Firebird

I might need to reread the Alex Benedict novels. It's been a long time and I remember them being rather like Indiana Jones crossed with sci-fi mysteries.

Nabeel Qureshi, Rest in Peace

I just discovered this young man died of cancer at age 34 a few days ago. His book, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus is one I liked for a lot of reasons, but most of all I recall the look it gave me into a loving Muslim family. The Gospel Coalition has a really good overview of his life, conversion, and work.

Nabeel Qureshi, rest in peace, and may your loved ones be comforted as they grieve.

Via Brandywine Books.

My review of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus is here.

Well Said: The real religious mystery for Judaism is not our faith in God but God’s faith in us.

The great institutions of modernity were not constructed to provide meaning. Science tells us how the world came to be but not why. Technology gives us power but cannot tell us how to use it. The market gives us choices but no guidance as to which choices to make. Modern democracies give us a maximum of personal freedom but a minimum of shared morality. You can acknowledge the beauty of all these institutions, yet most of us seek something more.

Meaning comes not from systems of thought but from stories, and the Jewish story is among the most unusual of all. It tells us that God sought to make us His partners in the work of creation, but we repeatedly disappointed Him. Yet He never gives up. He forgives us time and again. The real religious mystery for Judaism is not our faith in God but God’s faith in us.

This is not, as atheists and skeptics sometimes claim, a comforting fiction but quite the opposite. Judaism is God’s call to human responsibility, to create a world that is a worthy home for His presence. That is why Jews are so often to be found as doctors fighting disease, economists fighting poverty, lawyers fighting injustice, teachers fighting ignorance and therapists fighting depression and despair.

Judaism is a supremely activist faith for which the greatest religious challenge is to heal some of the wounds of our deeply fractured world. As [Viktor] Frankl put it: The real question is not what do we want from life but what does life want from us.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, The Challenge of Jewish Repentance

This is just a bit from a really great piece written to lead into Rosh Hoshana (the Ten Days of Repentance) which begin tomorrow.

Rabbi Sacks's article is one we can all benefit from whether we share the Jewish faith or not. And Catholics know that the Jews are our elder brothers in the faith so it is a good thing to get that extra perspective.

Be sure to read the whole thing.

To podcast or not to podcast. That is the question.

Scott says yes. Julie says no. After they talk about it, they change sides. Still no decisions get made. But, somehow, the podcast did! (Probably because Scott reasoned so lyrically.)

Alas, Julie, Sit down awhile;
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story
What we two have seen.

Join us to discuss Hamlet (1990) - starring several famous people and directed by Franco Zeffirelli - at A Good Story is Hard to Find.

Well Said: What human curiosity can achieve

Show a human a closed door, and not matter how many open doors she finds, she'll be haunted by what might be behind it.

A few people liked to paint this drive as a weakness. A failing of the species. Humanity as the virus. The creature that never stops filling up its available living space. ... But Anna rejected that idea. If humanity were capable of being satisfied, then they'd all still be living in trees and eating bugs out of one another's fur. Anna had walked on a moon of Jupiter, She'd looked up through a dome-covered sky at the great red spot, close enough to see the swirls and eddies of a storm larger than her home world. She'd tasted water thawed from ice as old as the solar system itself. And it was that human dissatisfaction, that human audacity, that had put her there.

Looking at the tiny world spinning around her, she knew one day it would give them the stars as well.

James S. A. Corey, Abaddon's Gate

Genesis Notes: Judah's Story

GENESIS 38
Judah's story never even registered with me on any previous readings of Genesis. As I was taking it in, my jaw dropped. Quite the parallel to Joseph indeed. If y'all don't know what I'm talking about, go read this story in chapter 38.

Judah and Tamar, Horace Vernet

Chapter 38 provides a "story of Judah" that is parallel to the story of Joseph in time while being completely opposed in moral tone. It serves to set off the story of Joseph in a number of ways: both leave home, one voluntarily, the other against his will. One leaves to seek his fortune among the Canaanites, the other is sold as a slave to Egypt. One seeks out a prostitute, the other flees sexual temptation. What becomes of these men, who will father the two leading tribes of Israel, is a study in contrast. There is great irony in the outcome, for what appears to be true on the outside (one man moving freely and in control of his destiny; another man enslaved, in control of nothing but his response to the situation) does not take into account the unseen — the will and the presence of God....

Two of Judah's sons were so wicked, God killed them before they had children. According to custom, Judah should have given his third son to the first son's wife so the family name would continue, but he was afraid that son would die too so he sent his daughter-in-law home to her father. This left him with one son who was betrothed to a woman he was not allowed near -- hardly a recipe for building a family. The wickedness of Judah's sons makes one question Judah's ability to "father" properly in any sense of the word -- and yet God had chosen Judah to father the tribe that would one day produce the Messiah, and He would bring that about.

Onan's sin was preventing pregnancy by spilling his seed on the ground. In doing so, he was taking selfish measures to make sure no child would come between himself and his brother's property. But it was not just his intent but the act itself that was wrong. Onan was going through the motions of a covenant act while denying it meaning and purpose. According to the Catechism, "every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposed, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible — is intrinsically evil." (#2370)

Tamar, with her courageous plan to get that which was hers by right but which Judah refused her, became the means by which Judah's line — the line from which the Savior would come — is continued. This is yet another illustration of the fact that membership in the family of God is determined not by natural order but by God's providence in determining who will be heir to promise and blessing.

All quotes from Genesis, Part II: God and His Family. This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Well Said: Editing History to Popular Taste

As a construct, history is too often revised to match contemporary views. It has been said that each generation must rewrite history in order to understand it. The opposite is true. Moderns revise history to make it palatable, not to understand it. Those who edit "history" to popular taste each decade will never understand the past—neither the horrors nor the glories of which the human race is equally capable—and for that reason, they will fail to understand themselves.

T.R. Fehrenbach,

Lone Star: A History of Texas and Texans

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

For generations, the solar system -- Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt -- was humanity's great frontier. Until now. A massive alien gate has appeared that may lead to the stars or to destruction.

Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are part of a vast flotilla of scientific and military ships going out to examine the artifact. But behind the scenes, a complex plot is unfolding, with the destruction of Holden at its core. As the emissaries of the human race try to find whether the gate is an opportunity or a threat, the greatest danger is the one they brought with them.

This is the third book in the Expanse series and is a worthy companion to the first of the series, Leviathan Wakes.

Abaddon's Gate has a really interesting scenario of what humans find when they leave the galaxy and of alien life itself, one that I've never encountered in science fiction before. The other elements are more recognizable as we are pulled into conflicts resulting from politics, ambition, and revenge.

One other unique element is that Anna, a Methodist minister, brings religion into the story in a positive and thought provoking way. There are many religious folk but most act in the predictable and lamentable way that fame can provoke. Anna is different and although I found her frustrating at times, I also found that very frustration to be something I had to examine more personally. Anna's embrace of both science and faith were praiseworthy and all too rare in a mainstream series.

Notes:
Abaddon's Gate takes advantage of the future setting to occasionally include cultural elements that I don't always agree with — such as Anna's home situation. Just ignore it. The story's good anyway.

Except for one element which leads us to the alien gate, I now feel the second book in the series is skippable. Yes, it is entertaining but overall I found it too much like the first book in a lot of ways and kind of a waste of my time. I'm not advocating you skip it but just saying that I won't bother rereading it if I decide to revisit the series.