Jesus the Son of Man

This book by Kahlil Gibran was an absolute treat. Having re-read his most famous work last night, I became curious about his other stuff and found this for 73p on Kindle, so immediately bumped it to the top of my to-read list - and I have not been disappointed.

   It's difficult to decide whether to classify this as poetry or short stories given the style & nature of the content. Basically what the book is constituted of is several dozen vignettes of various people's reactions to, recollections of, and reflections on Jesus of Nazareth; these range from his disciples (eg. James & John, Matthew, Peter, Thomas, Mary Magdalene gets three separate chapters alone) to his erstwhile foes (most notably the high priests Annas & Caiaphas, and Pontius Pilate) to random strangers (eg. a Persian philosopher, a Babylonian astronomer, a Greek poet, and my personal favourite "Ahaz the portly").* The attitudes presented range from worshipful awe to confusion to hostility - there is even one interestingly neutral perspective. Gibran seeks to tread the known and possible ground of the biblically-orthodox Jesus faithfully, making no theological points but as a work of socio-historical imagination driving home the pressing question - "how would you have related to him?"**

   A very readable, vibrant & faithful book. Highly recommended for those curious about what we can say or imagine about Jesus without resorting to outright fancy, be they Christian like Kahlil Gibran was or not.

* A couple of lacunae I would have liked to have seen filled would be Pharisees and the beneficiaries of his miracles, lepers & cripples & demoniacs etc, but I suppose you can't have everything, and admittedly Gibran is already doing a great deal here.

** Indeed, the final chapter, "a man from Lebanon [nineteen centuries later]" is Gibran's own reflections on meeting Jesus himself through the life of faith.

the Prophet

This book is the most famous work by Kahlil Gibran - I've read it for this blog before, hence the shortness of this post: that link goes back to my original post about it as I don't really have anything to add to what I said there* so go read that if you want to know about this brilliantly-wise & beautifully-written poetic work.

* Except one thing - the edition I read last time was a stolen Everyman hardback which since, in somewhat neat circularity, has been stolen from me (well, I lent it to someone, I forget who, but they kept it) so this time was reading my replacement, a fairly unattractively-formatted paperback with Gibran's own artwork interspersed with the sections, though I'll admit this didn't add much to the reading experience. I'd be interested to see his artwork in person, mind, as I'm sure it's a lot more impressive when it's not an A5 black&white copy.

Seeing Beauty & Saying Beautifully

This book by John Piper is an exploration of how poetic effort can be utilized in devotion to God; as evangelism, as exhortation, as edification, etc. Drawing on the lives & work of three great Christian communicators (each of whom is afforded a relevant-facts-only potted biography to place their works into their proper contexts, alongside a rough examination of the linguistic arts each employed in their vocation), Piper develops a cogent & compelling discourse on how "putting things into your own words" is a mighty fine tool in the finite individual's spiritual formation & missional impact.

   The contents proceed as follows:

1. a brief introduction theologically justifying the poetic use of language by Christians in the communication of their faith, hope, & love - despite the common assertions in the New Testament that "lofty speech" is NOT the way to best present the gospel
2. George Herbert - the 16th-century rural pastor who posthumously became known as one of the greatest devotional writers this world has seen. Herbert's pastoral career responsibilities & magisterial poetic gifting are both given due examination, with his spiritual humility & technical grandeur given similar weight in discussion
3. George Whitefield - the 18th-century trans-Atlantic preacher (with, if we're being honest, a borderline unbelievable virtually superhuman* capacity for bringing to gospel to people far & wide**) whose modes of dramatic eloquent enunciation brought many thousands to Christ & laid the foundations for the Great Awakenings that followed in the years after his tour of America
4. C.S. Lewis - the 20th-century atheist-turned-Anglican who, alongside his career as a scholar of ancient literature, became the foremost apologist for the Christian faith (despite several decidedly heterodox positions that he held compared to most evangelicals of his & our era) via combination of romantic & rationalistic apprehension of Christianity's truth claims; as expressed in both imaginative & logical means
5. a final concluding chapter which briefly restates everything learned from these three great disciples of Christ & challenges us to follow them in their following of & expression of such - we may not all be poets but we all have the capacity for poetic effort, and handedly manifesting such is a tried & true means of deepening our own grasp of the divine just as much as it does communicate such encountered truth to our audiences

   After the concluding section on how each of these very different dudes drew upon the fountain of inspiration that is God*** to make more of their faith, and how each has lessons to teach us about ongoing contemporary ministry in ways fruitful both to writer & reader (or speaker & hearer, as in Whitefield's case) - well, that's the book. I found this a hugely edifying & instructive read as a poet myself, so would highly recommend it to Christians curious about the more daring aspects of expression as a fantastic source of real-life Example in How-To-Do... I dare say even non-Christians who already have a creative bent will find much in here to make them think deeply & feel seenly about Truth.

* Dude preached roughly a thousand sermons a year for thirty years. Which, even given his barely-existent social life outside of itinerant gospel proclamation, must have left him with minimal time for the actual preparation of said sermons - I choose thus to believe that even two centuries before Red Bull was available he must have been largely, especially, winging it.

** An interesting knot of historical biography is that Whitefield was a slave-owner who also dedicated huge amounts of effort in evangelising slaves, who he saw as >potentially< spiritually equal to whites. While there were no doubt abolitionists who pre-dated him, and he was it's fair to say never even one of these, it is also true that he was chiefly mourned by the Blacks in America following his death, given his commitment to & massive success in bringing them the gospel.

*** Having learned much more about George Herbert from this book that I didn't from reading him directly, I do have to confess that I still find William Blake a more compelling Christian voice in poetry's form; were I the staff manager of the Historical Church, yes I may well happily let Herbert write liturgy, and Lewis would have free rein on producing apologetic tracts for non-believers, and obviously Whitefield would be among those on the regular pulpit roster - but it would be Blake's outrageously inclusive imagination that I would most like to lead Sunday school.

the Vision of God

This book (available from the Internet Archive from that link for free) by Nicholas of Cusa* is an underrated classic of Christian mysticism. It eschews the argumentative polemic format & instead takes on a kind of prolonged doxology - which fully befits its core theme, the infinity of God. The first half circles around the implications of the ideas that God is omniscient & omnipresent, everywhere & everywhen & thus all-seeing, all-knowing; the theological groundwork discussed here is drawn out in subjective implication for the believer in how they relate to [i.e. can see, can know] God as, being as they are, finite. The second half is dedicated to unpacking the depths of the Christian idea of God as Trinity, and how this relates to philosophical notions of infinitude; followed with unpacking the nest of complexities in how Jesus relates to God as infinite - a hefty task which in my opinion Nicholas undertakes well. While perhaps not as original in content as some of his other works (see the * below) as this is merely expanding on well-trodden ground within Christian thinking, this book still explores some very cogent angles about essentials of orthodox faith & does so in beautiful language; definitely worth a read for any Christian wanting to pick at the scab of ignorance that has formed over the cut in their spiritual skin made by cognizance that we, as finite human sinners, somehow have to relate to an infinite incomprehensible perfect Lord.

* Yeh, what with this after this and that I've been reading a lot of him recently. What can I say? Interesting thinker!

Humility and the Elevation of the Mind to God

This book by Thomas á Kempis was something of a disappointment (unlike the author's more famous work). Don't get me wrong, it's a classic of western Christian spiritual education, and fully deserves to be read as such - but it's essentially an elongated series of urgent commendations for the reader to discipline themselves in holy obedience, offering very little practical insight of substance or originality in its coverage of humility as a virtue to be cultivated (thankfully other accessible short books exist that do) nor consideration of the via contemplativa, which I assumed from the title this book would at least deal with in some detail (again). So yeah, I didn't get much from reading this, but that doesn't mean that nobody will - if you're yourself exploring Christian spirituality and want to go deeper then the advices and admonishments herein will likely be useful to you. And even if you find after all that they're not so much, it's a very short text (I read it in a single ninety-minute sitting) so you won't be investing wasted time.

Tao Te Ching

This book is the ancient text attributed to the probably-legendary Lao Tzu, and forms the foundation of Taoist philosophy. Check out the link at the start of this post for my main thoughts on it from the last time I read it - something that I now plan on re-doing every year, as there is much to be mined from this beautiful, elusive, deeply mysterious little book.

101 Zen Tales

This book is, as it says on the tin, one hundred and one short stories circling and elucidating the mysterious Buddhist doctrine of Zen, edited by Nyogen Senzaki (at least I'm assuming Senzaki was primarily the editor but could feasibly have taken part in translating or rewording the stories themselves). As nobody familiar with Zen will be surprised by, these tales are all pithy and paradoxical, counter-intuitive, almost anarchic little parables about the nature of reality, wisdom, enlightenment, religion, and so on, each short provocation an opportunity to ever-increasingly turn one's back on what is known or predictable or even respectable, and to instead embrace the simplicity and emptiness of the Zen way. I'd highly recommend this as a resource more for anyone who wants to sincerely engage with Zen as a spiritual way of life rather than for anyone who wants to properly understand it as a religious philosophy (something that most Zen masters would likely look down upon as a pursuit anyway) - it will make you confused as much as it will make you laugh, and along the way it may help you shed the trappings of constrictive but unconstructive rationality, and walk ever further down one of the many paths of enlightenment.

Body

This book by Paula Gooder is an exploration of Judeo-Christian conceptions of the body and its relation to spirituality, as expounded in the Bible, with particular focus on the writings of Paul the apostle. She finishes her introduction with a very helpful and nuanced glossary of Hebrew (eg. nephesh) and Greek (eg. pneuma) words that she places under systematic consideration throughout the book - I found myself returning to this list multiple times throughout reading but you get used to the fine-tuned differentiations in definition as you go. Several chapters deal with biblical conceptions of the soul and how it relates to the body, both in life and in eternity, and having never read anything about this before I found these particularly illuminating chapters. The text overall makes a brilliant case for inclusion of our consideration of the body in holistic Christian spirituality. Would recommend for anyone interested in these topics; it's academically written but not inaccessibly so.

Silence: a Christian History

This book by Diarmaid MacCulloch is precisely what it says on the tin - a history of Christianity focused on silence, about which there is far more to say than you would likely expect. I certainly found myself astounded at the breadth of things he was able to talk about and still felt that there were many places in which he was being deliberately brief as there was yet more to say left on the cutting-room floor.

   The text is split into four parts. Firstly, we get an overview of the pre-Christian influences on its attitude to silence, chiefly from Israel's Tanakh but also considering the impact of Platonic philosophy; followed by what we can glean from the New Testament (interestingly Jesus variably embraces and ends silence) about silence in the emergent Church's earliest years. Next, we span the first millennium of Christian history and how silence played different roles from the desert hermit to the marginalised gnostics to the nascent centralised episcopacy - these chapters go into considerable detail about silence as a practice among monks, and illuminated me as to the nuances between meditation and contemplation. Thirdly we look at three great upheavals across the second millennium of Church history - iconoclasm in Orthodoxy, the Gregorian reforms of Catholicism, and the Protestant Reformation* - and how these affected attitudes towards and practice of silence. The final section of the book attempts to reach behind the noise of Christian history - conceptualising silence as lacunae, things ignored, not talked about, rather than as a literal [in]audible phenomenon - here we take a close look at: Nicodemism (i.e. what happens when someone conceals their true character or beliefs to avoid social consequences; alongside historical examples there is a much more contemporary discussion of gay Anglo-Catholics); issues that the Church seems to be trying to forget out of historical shame (slavery, clerical child abuse, and the centuries of anti-Semitism which enabled the Holocaust are the main focuses); and the status of silence in present and future Christianities (music and ecumenism get special attention in this section, as does the complicated question of whistle-blowing - can we justifiably stay silent when truth demands we speak?).

   I'm really glad I read this book - it has given me a much richer understanding of the global historical precedents that surround the practices of worship to which, as a Quaker, I subscribe. MacCulloch is evidently a scholar of great thoroughness in diverse learning and erudite insight - though I will admit that this is the first non-fiction book with endnotes for a while for which I didn't read the endnotes. Nothing personal, Diarmaid, I just thought I was getting enough mental nourishment from your primary pages. Niche it may be as a topic, but if somehow you also find yourself curious about Christianity's historical relationship with silence, this is almost certainly THE book to go to.

* It is in this chapter that we get the chief discussion of Quakers, which was the whole reason I bought this book to begin with - I do think MacCulloch could and should have gone into greater depth when considering a denomination for whom silence is part and parcel of their worship style, but then look at how much other ground he's had to cover. And besides, it's hardly as if there's a dearth of Quaker literature to engage with for that kind of insight.

Walking on Water

This book by novelist Madeleine l'Engle is a prolonged collection of reflections on the relationship between the creative & spiritual as experienced by the Christian artist. It utterly eschews scholarly support or argument, instead drawing on personal experience, which makes for a personable, compelling read rooted in real-world struggles of nuance. Highly recommended reading for Christians engaged in the arts to any degree; it will refresh, edify & inspire.

Signs of the Spirit

This book is an interpretation by Sam Storms of Jonathan Edwards's Religious Affections - part paraphrase, part summary, part commentary, in view of making the old Puritan's immensely dense & hard-to-read ideas in their original text more accessible to the modern layperson. Edwards easily ranks among the most important American theologians in history but he is notoriously difficult, obtuse even, in his writing style, so a book like this that attempts to communicate his arguments in shorter clearer sentences is of much value. The Religious Affections as a text is concerned with establishing biblically and doctrinally sound principles by which we may discern whether the spiritual experiences and outputs of a person's life can be known to be genuinely imparted by the Holy Spirit and thus attest to the authenticity of that person's faith.

   Storms (or perhaps Edwards, I have no means of telling what the original text's chapter division scheme is like) opens with a brief introduction on the nature of true spirituality - that is, a life of faith characterised by love for and joy in Jesus Christ - and that such a life will manifest spiritual affections, experiences of mind & heart that lift one into cognizant fellowship with the divine. He then establishes the biblical foundations for this concept, and briefly discusses its utility in prayer, praise & preaching. Then we get to the list of twenty-four affections at the core of the book: the first twelve are "signs of nothing", i.e. spiritual or psychological or emotional experiences that, however much they may feel or appear to be religious at face value, are actually inconclusive in determining whether they are genuine signs of saving faith; the subsequent twelve however are, according to Edwards, sure signifiers that the person experiencing the affection is numbered among God's children. Thus:

1. Affections that are truly spiritual and gracious arise from influences and operations on the heart that are supernatural and divine.
2. The first objective ground of gracious affections is the transcendently excellent and amiable nature of divine things as they are in themselves, and not in any conceived relation to self-interest.
3. Those affections that are truly holy are primarily founded on the loveliness of the moral excellence of divine things.
4. Gracious affections arise from the mind being enlightened rightly and spiritually to understand or apprehend divine things.
5. Truly gracious affections are attended with a reasonable and spiritual conviction of the judgement, reality and certainty of divine things.
6. Gracious affections are attended with evangelical humiliation [that is, authentic humility in Christ's service].
7. Gracious affections are distinguished from those that are false in that they are accompanied by a change of nature.
8. True religious affections reflect the character of Christ; they produce and promote the same love, humility, forgiveness & mercy that we see in him.
9. Authentic affections soften the heart and produce a tenderness of spirit and sensitivity toward sin.
10. Godly & gracious affections differ from those that are false in their beautiful symmetry and proportion.
11. When genuine gracious affections are experienced in high degree, it serves to intensify one's longing for more.
12. Gracious affections always bear the fruit of holiness of life.

   I haven't read nor have any plan to read Edwards's original work, so I can't say to what degree the unpacking of each of these does justice to the spiritual depth or intellectual integrity of the arguments presented in simplified summary, but Storms certainly doesn't come across as being less thorough than he should be.

   Alongside the interpretation of the Religious Affections, this book includes a second part - again part paraphrase, part summary, part commentary (and part lengthy direct quote) of another work by Edwards, his testimony as originally told in a short autobiographical text called the Personal Narrative; I found this part of the book extremely edifying and challenging as a subjective story of coming into and growing in relationship with God - it deals in considerable depth the religious affections of Edwards himself (chiefly sorrow at the vileness of his own sin & sweet joy at the beauty of God's holiness) as he walked his spiritual path, and thus complements the main bulk of this book perfectly in a less abstract, more applicable manner.

   Ultimately though I don't think this is a book I would recommend much. Its subject matter is theologically, spiritually and psychologically interesting, but as things stand we as humans can never attain a God's-eye-view of the true heart of another, and with experiences and expressions of affection in word and deed being often distorted by the muddy mixture of sin and liberation from it in the hearts of even true believers, it is impossible for us as creatures to perfectly discern the spiritual health of anyone, including ourselves. Such judgement is ineffable, God's alone, and only He knows the full roster of his elect. So though Edwards's system for ascertaining whether one's faith is authentic is coherent and hard to find much to argue with in terms of its orthodox grounding, it isn't particularly practical for either individual or corporate spiritual instruction. "You shall know them by their fruits," says Jesus, but again sinners may by common grace produce good fruit and the redeemed may still harbour fleshly inclinations, so any hope of us being able to properly categorise people as elected for salvation or not evaporates on contact with a creation that still groans in its wait for renewal.

Unapologetic

This book by Francis Spufford is, despite his claims that it isn't an apologetic as it makes zero effort to engage with classic philosophical arguments for or against any particular theological claims, by far and away the best Christian apologetic I've ever read. I've literally just read the whole book in a single sitting* it's that good. The subtitle proclaims it as an exploration of "why, despite everything, Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense" - and to say it achieves the goal of making a case for this with aplomb would be a grand disservice to the word aplomb. It runs its course over eight perfectly-structured chapters:

1. a general introduction; statement of intent for the book
2. the existential experience of sin, or as he translates it the Human Propensity to Fuck Things Up
3. the frustrating ineffability of God in light of people's recurrent sense of needing, if not Him, then something to fill that gap
4. the confounding problem of suffering
5. the personality, teachings, mission and passion of one Yeshua from Nazareth
6. the historically improbable paradoxes surrounding the emergence of Christianity as a coherent religion
7. the complicated legacy and situational state of the Church
8. the subjective feeling entailed in having faith that one is forgiven, and the challenges and opportunity implied herein

   It's deeply insightfully clever without being scholarly**, bewilderingly matter-of-fact in what it says and completely down-to-earth in how it says it, balancing common-sense public presumption with personal but universally recognisable experiences and dazzlingly original points that lead him into compelling conclusions without ever making anything that so much as looks like a rational argument. Spufford not only doesn't avoid the prickly areas of conversation around Christianity in its contemporary context but actively leans into them and tries to give them as much benefit of the doubt as possible, and somehow still manages to wrangle cogent and meaningful ways of sidestepping or outright neutering them. He writes with a disarming simplicity and a refreshing honesty that if such style was wider emulated by Christian authors (and indeed everyday evangelising believers) I hazard to expect that we would see a great many more folks showing interest in the faith.

   Overall, this is a more-or-less perfect example of communicating Christianity effectively in a postmodern culture. If we are presumed by the world around us to be irrational, then give up on trying to convince people by reason - and talk about what it feels like to have one's messy spiritual life wrapped up in what never has been and never will be scientifically verifiable but is indisputably salient in its psychological cohesion to those who try to believe it. If you're a Christian, read this and be inspired to draw on your own emotional experience to communicate your own faith more fluidly, with less intellectual trumps and more confounding expressivity. If you're not a Christian - this book won't convince you to become one, but it may very well provoke you to give it a bloody good consideration.

* With minor breaks only to piss, smoke, and make more coffee.

** Spufford humbly boasts in a note at the end of the book that aside from checking to ensure the accuracy of certain factual claims and quotations used, he conducted exactly no research whatsoever throughout his writing process.

Renewal as a Way of Life

This book by Richard Lovelace is a guidebook for Christian spiritual growth. It is a condensed version of Lovelace's prior book Dynamics of Spiritual Life, but also entails an extra seven years-worth of reflections and learning around individual and corporate renewal, so it goes beyond the original in many regards.

   The book is split into three main chunks. Firstly, in exploring the normal Christian life, we consider how our lives are to be centred on God and His Kingdom; here we are given the "preconditions for renewal", those being an awareness of God's holiness, expressed in His love and His justice, and a complementary awareness of the depth of sin both in oneself and in the world. Orienting one's heart and mind in these ways is the root of sustainable and renewable spiritual life.

   Secondly, we look at the unholy trifecta of phenomena which constitute the "dynamics of spiritual death": those being the flesh, the world, and the devil. This middle section of the book is chock-full of practical insights into discerning when & where these are at play, and then navigating around or through them as we continue living under & for God.

   The third and final section explores the dynamics of spiritual life. The first chapter in this part dives into the Messianic victory of Christ and its explosively potent implications for followers of Jesus; the next two chapters dig deeper into how living out these implications manifests in firstly individual and secondly corporate (church) renewal. In these chapters we are introduced to the primary and secondary elements of renewal. Primarily, through faith in Christ as individuals we can be assured that we are accepted by God (justification), free from bondage to sin (sanctification), not alone thanks to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and granted authority over the spiritual powers of evil. Secondarily as we live in the light of these assurances we can follow Jesus into the world, presenting his gospel in proclamation & social demonstration (mission); we can depend on the power of the risen Christ in solitary & corporate prayer; we can enjoy community in the united body of Christ on micro- & macro- levels; and we can ever-more-progressively have the mind of Christ toward both revealed truth & our own cultural contexts by integrating theological learning & practice.

   I got a lot out of this book. It's accessibly written & consistently focused, leaning on the orthodox essentials without getting bogged down in theological corners; it's thoroughly Biblical throughout (with a Scripture quote or two on almost every page) & never tries to do more than it claims to be aiming to. Each chapter is closed off with a half-dozen or so discussion questions, as Lovelace does mention in the introduction that this would be an ideal book to work through with a small group of fellow disciples, and I imagine that doing so would be an incredibly fruitful experience, but so is just reading it to yourself. This is a book that does not make light of how difficult the Christian path can be at times, but it steadfastly instils confidence that if we have our eyes, hearts & minds attuned to God-in-Christ we will continue down the path of renewal until we are called home.

the Spirit of Life

This book is the fourth of Jürgen Moltmann's series of contributions to systematic theology, this one dealing with the Holy Spirit's nature, character, and activity. The book is subtitled "a universal affirmation" and it delivers on this promise, as I will expand on later. For now, let's go through a rough outline of its contents - after a brief introduction discussing contemporary approaches to pneumatology, the book is split into three main parts:

1. Experiences of the Spirit - starting with a consideration of how God, being immanently transcendent, is experienced through experiences of life itself; then how the Spirit has been experienced historically, as divine energy, through God's people, the Shekinah, and messianic expectation; and finally Trinitarian experiences reflected in Christ's own spirituality, the spirit of Christ, and the mutuality between these two members of the Trinity.
2. Life in the Spirit - here we deal with the spiritual vitality of life; the liberation aspect as the Spirit bestows freedom upon its subjects; the justification aspect as the Spirit brings justice to victims, perpetrators, and structures; the regeneration and rebirth themes; the holiness which the Spirit helps people grow into through sanctification; the specific charismatic powers that the Spirit bestows upon select individuals and the purposes of these; and lastly how all this fits into thinking about mystical experience.
3. The fellowship and person of the Spirit - we first look at experience of fellowship and how this is interpenetrated with experience of the Spirit, how this is expressed in Christianity, and how loving relationships embody a social experience of God's being; then move onto ways of describing the personality of the Spirit through a range of utterly inadequate but humanly helpful metaphors (grouped into personal, formative, movement, and mystical), the streaming divinity of the Spirit's personhood, and how this fits together with various conceptions of the Trinitarian schema [the final section of this last bit takes a bit of a left turn to consider whether the filioque is a superfluous addition to the Nicene Creed or not, which is a bit detached from the rest of the book but in such an ecumenical sequence of ideas it's good to have it in there].

   So clearly this book covers a lot of ground - and the same caveats as I've given in previous posts about Moltmann's books apply here. But that subtitle, "a universal affirmation", truly does describe the overall bent of this book: while it is densely academic in style, to grasp the thrust of the arguments being made is to genuinely be held close in the encouraging embrace of the Holy Spirit as that which loves and affirms life in itself - I've labelled the post for this one "spirituality" not because it offers anything new or innovative to the Christian experience of spiritual life but because it so deeply and roundly affirms the goodness and the dependability of the basic facts of the Christian life insofar as it is spiritually experienced. The world these days is all too often dark and confusing, and much of the time I find it hard even with my faith to look to the future as the site of many tangible promises for human flourishing; but this book has done more to restore my trust in God's ineffable brilliance and unpredictability and love for that which is recognisable yet new, fresh, surprising, than almost anything else I've ever read. If you're only going to read one book out of Moltmann's contributions to systematic theology, I'd make it this one, as it will give you an identity statement and modus operandi for arguably the most mysterious member of the Trinity, that will deepen your cognizance of God's work in the world and your life, and broaden the intake valves of your heart for abundant security of hope and joy.

Rumi: Selected Poems

This book is a collection of poetry by the 13th-century Persian Sufi mystic Jalal ad-din Rumi, or simply Rumi as he is more commonly known.

   I went into this book expecting majestic, mysterious uniqueness; and I found it. Rumi, it is claimed at least by the blurb inside the Penguin Classics edition,* is the most-read poet in the contemporary United States of America - which I honestly found quite a shock given the friendly terms Iran is currently on with that country. I guess people who read poetry are generally more forgivingly open-minded? Anyway - the Penguin Classics edition, which I read, edits the whole of Rumi's multi-volume masterwork the mathnawi into twenty-seven thematic chapters, with themes ranging from Bewilderment, Emptiness and Silence and Being a Lover to Art as Flirtation with Surrender, Recognizing Elegance and Jesus. As a Sufi, Rumi believed that union with God in His divine loving nature was achievable to the willing and dedicated soul, and that belief shines through on every page of his poetry - there is an affirmingness there, a love of all that is human and authentic, almost to a fault. Many of these poems are tongue-in-cheek; lots are genuinely funny; many deal with profane matters; several are genuinely pornographic (there is one very graphically memorable one involving a donkey and a makeshift sheath); many more deal in explicitly religious terms with the struggles of human life and consciousness, of love and hope and loss and fear, of union and separation, of discovering and keeping one's place in the world or even simply of wondering where that may be. All are beautiful and worth reading.

   I don't know enough about Sufism to confidently discuss my reflections on this collection of poetry in religious or spiritual terms, but as poetry, as pure voice that uplifts and echoes the human spirit, I can confidently say that this incredible man is worth reading.

* Translated and edited by Coleman Barks, and also, for some reason, including an appendix with half a dozen random recipes.

the Soul of Wine

This book by Gisela Kreglinger is an entertainingly readable, life-affirming and impressively moderation-levelled introduction to the spirituality of wine. She - coming from a winemaking family - has a deep and rich appreciation for the dimensions of life that the juice of the vine can bring out in human social relations, and she has shared with us in this short book a powerful testimony of what this can look and feel like. I was shocked at some of her theological statements but taken poetically I don't think there's anything in here that all but the most ardent of teetotaller-Puritan Christians should really be bridling at. Jesus loved wine enough to not only develop "a reputation" among the Pharisees but even instituted the sharing of wine as part of his own disciples' maintenance of their relations with him and each other - i.e. the Communion - and as such we should think not drunkenly but drinkingly of the Spirit as the gift of life that it is, given to us to share in the abundance of all good things that God has given His Creation - and call me Bernard Black but I've always held good old fermented grape juice as being one of those higher gifts. You know, like cheese, with crackers and olive paté. A recommended gift book to Christians who like a glass or two. Not a recommended gift book to those struggling with over-drinking, as it will likely just send them into Rasputin mode.

Rumours of Another World

This book by Philip Yancey is a masterfully composed, Biblically grounded and refreshingly open-minded take on Christian apologetics. Instead of dealing directly with Christian claims and how the world tries to refute them, Yancey begins with the premise that there is more to life than the mundane material lets on. He then leads us through a winding series of arguments tackling some of the biggest blockages against our as natural beings' shortfalls in perception of life and the universe's supernatural elements: the false gods of money, sex and power cloud over much of this reality by demanding God-level attentiveness from their soul-sold devotees, and we get stuck in ruts of finite perception, ignorant of the infinite love and goodness on the "other side" - this despite all Scripture over its history aiming to create and maintain communities deeply rooted in the practice of perception of such Otherness - even believers construct walls to keep out the less-than-neat-or-easy elements of supernatural being.

   I'm using lots of hyperlinks to make points in this post as the themes of this book tie into a lot of things I've read already, but moreso since Yancey's writing style is itself full of "hyperlinks" - he writes extremely accessibly, this is far from an academic slog of a book, and references to previous chapters or other things he's written criss-cross almost every page as he builds us a picture of the unseen Coming Kingdom of Christ - a picture rooted not in human institutions but the communications of a great and absolute God who loves us and desires us to know His goodness first hand. Through the intimations of poetry and work of the imagination we can take steps toward this all-filling spark of creativity and mystery that is the eternal Godhead, who is far closer than most presume to the beating heart of pop culture just as much as the dried-out flakes of gnostic "faith" in what we do not yet know fully - perhaps never will or can know. Some things are God's knowledge and no human mind ever needs to be big or complex enough to comprehend them, and as beings of an amphibious nature, that is we have both bodies and souls - we should be okay with this reality. Only obedience in faith ultimately helps us find the spiritual oases - and only grace will redeem us at the end of history, whenever that may be for us personally.

   This book is a powerful communication of the Christian faith, but philosophically speaking there is a lot in here to pique the interest of skeptics too. I would commend this book to those who are maybe new to spirituality and have no intrinsic reason to doubt or distrust the Jesus traditions - not that there aren't sometimes good reasons to be wary of such - but on the whole it is my experience that life with Christ in it is richer and realer and more enthralling than life without, and so I would hope that in the spirit of receptivity people would not dismiss the supernatural things in our world without at least trying to taste-test them to see what sticks.

Enjoy your Prayer Life

This book by Michael Reeves (same great author as this) does what it says on the tin: it is a hearty and helpful guide to diagnosing whether and why one's life of relational prayer with God may, or may not, be flourishing at any particular time in your life. Readers of this blog will not be surprised that maintaining a strong lifestyle element of prayerfulness is, I think - fundamental to my personal flourishing and joy.

   It's a very short book, in fourteen bitesize chapters: I finished it over a single coffee. Any normal reader could likely do the same, were they not taking the time-outs to think over what they've read - as I didn't feel much need to, as it rather just revivified in affirmation of my actual IRL views on prayer anyway, grounded well in Scriptural theology as you'd expect. Helpful reminders from this book include:

• Prayer is not a magical formulaic means of "getting summat" from God
• It is merely asking God for help with that which we cannot resolve
• Our prayers to the Father are conducted through and by Jesus
• Intentionality of resting in Christ's name gives our prayers a "pleasing fragrance" when the words reach the heavens; and all prayers are answered, though we might not always recognize these when they come as God's wisdom exceeds our own understanding of right and Need
• Ideally, prayer should be done constantly - that is, in that it becomes an added layer of consciousness to those practicing it, in all things; not just ritual verbiage
• Total dependence on God through Jesus's accomplished work is the best method for achieving constancy of prayerful mindfulness; it is the antithesis of "independence"
• Obviously, the Holy Spirit guides much of all the inner workings herein
• So be honest - for God sees you as you truly are
• And trust in Christ's promises - that as we pray in and with Him we will be brought ever deeper into God's bosom; in joy, understanding and obedient love

   And so on.

   Hardly the kind of book that would be necessarily enticing to someone who doesn't think God is real or good or whatever - but as a Christian pilgrim, this is worth a read. If you're able to afford it - it's probably worth buying a few dozen copies and handing them out to all your Christian mates/acquaintances. In any case, I have left my (somewhat dog-eared, soz) copy in the Trewan Hall bookswap library.

the Poet, the Warrior, the Prophet

This book by Rubem A. Alves is an absolute masterpiece of experimental poetry-prose blended theology. It is beautifully crafted, so eloquently argued that you barely notice the intellectual cogs spinning until you're caught up in their imaginative wake like a thrall to transfixing, almost blinding in places, truth: God is love, and life, and all good, and we get by grace to participate in his nature through faith, acceptance as we are accepted... I'm rambling but this central point of enliveningness as central to the Gospel imperative makes up the core of this book, only Alves unpacks it in such glorious terms that it seems petty, redundant even, to try to do better justice than a zealous quasi-anonymous blurb.

   Strongly recommended for people who are spiritually exploring the world more; you will meet an incredible Jesus presented here even if you've never opened a Bible... I'm stopping short of saying this book is 'divinely inspired', but then what is divinity, and what is inspiration? And if you cannot show me how to draw the line between the two, then I will remain trusting the enforcement, theologically speaking, of that boundary to God and Him in Trinity alone.

Living Dangerously

This book, edited by Alan Jacobs, is a collection of extracts from the speeches & teaches of Osho, also known as Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh - a man who were it not for this excellent netflix documentary series I wouldn't have heard of probably. As you'll know if you've seen the doc - things got strange; but as you'll know if you're read this blog much - I love it when things get strange, and I'm always happy to suspend disbelief a bit when the lines between genuine wisdom & odd cultic dogma seem to be blurry. So, without making any judgments whatsoever - I decided it wasn't worth only having an impression of the man's life and/or philosophy without actually exploring some of it directly rather than just via a probably-somewhat-dramatized retelling of all the juiciest highlights. And my verdict is - I mean, my personal jury's still out on the nature of the cultic community his ashram turned into, but in terms of his actual outlook and ideas? The man makes some excellent points, which are highly uncomfortable to hear for anyone from settled ideological perspectives: his reflections on the nature of meditation, modernity & the mishap-overlap in-betweens therein are some of the most striking new poignancies I've heard from any thinker on the subjects of mindfulness and modernism, and much of the rest of his philosophy in my view does bear striking similarity to the clarity of insight and quasi-prophetic character of properly, dangerously enlightened thinking. That's not to say I necessarily agree with him about all the things he said - far less endorse all the things that happened under his watch - but you know, shit happens when you start trying to fundamentally question & uplift the human consciousness beyond the boundaries of convention, so I'm not gonna throw stones. Think for yourself if you want to dare to try to.

[edit - June: I've lent this book to a colleague of mine who's into spiritual mysticism and all that after we had a conversation about the documentary. He's still very skeptical which is totally fair enough - they did have those pink police people...]