Book Share: Between God and Man by Abraham Heschel.

Awe is a sense for the transcendence, for the reference everywhere to Him who is beyond all things. It is an insight better conveyed in attitudes than in words. The more eager we are to express it, the less remains of it.

The meaning of awe is to realize that life takes place under wide horizons, horizons that range beyond the span of an individual life or even the life of a nation, a generation, or an era. Awe enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple; to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal.

In analyzing or evaluating an object, we think and judge from a particular point of view. The psychologist, economist, and chemist pay attention to different aspects of the same object. such is the limitation of the mind that it can never see three sides of a building at the same time. The danger begins when, completely caught in one perspective, we attempt to consider a part as the whole. In the twilight of such perspectivism, even the sight of the part is distorted. What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe. When we “stand still and consider,” we face and witness what is immune to anaylsis.

Knowledge is fostered by curiosity; wisdom is fostered by awe.

Book Share: Between God and Man by Abraham Heschel.

“The Greeks learned in order to comprehend. The Hebrews learned in order to revere. The modern man learns in order to use. To Bacon we owe the formulation, “Knowledge is power.” This is how people are urged to study: knowledge means success. We do not know any more how to justify any value except in terms of expediency. Man is willing to define himself as “a seeker after the maximum degree of comfort for the minimum expenditure of energy.” He equates value with that which avails. He feels, acts, and thinks as if the sole purpose of the universe were to satisfy his needs. To the modern man everything seems calculable; everything reducible to a figure. He has the supreme faith in statistics and abhors the idea of a mystery. He is sure of his ability to explain all mystery away.

2 Minute Book Reviews.

Nerds (C-)
I’m a sucker for picking up books that are on the featured shelf at the library. At our library, there is a section where each librarian puts their “picks”. Like at Blockbuster. Two of them pick crappy stuff (1 goes for romantic novels, the other conservative politics) but the third one always picks winners. Whoever it is, picked half my books for me last year. And so I picked up Nerds when I saw it on the cover alone and under the assumption that my librarian picks rarely let me down. This is one of those books that the author could have said everything in the first chapter. In fact I think he did. Instead you get the impression that they just try to capitalize on a witty title and a cool cover and an interesting topic. Well he couldn’t even make the topics of nerds interesting. And let’s be honest, that’s an interesting topic. The bottom line was that nerds are only nerds because culture says so. Which I half agree with. But that’s all he said the whole book. And he didn’t make it interesting. Epic fail.

The Pirate’s Dilemma (B-)
I’ll be honest, if you haven’t noticed I believe in piracy. I know as a small business owner I should value intellectual rights, patents, and right to make a dime off your creations. But I’m so tired of the blatant commercialization that gets crammed down my throat that I’ve decided to take things into my own hand. I know that’s a sketchy ethic at best. But I am what I am. So I picked up this book curious to understand the past, present, and future of piracy. And Matt Mason did just that. He made excellent points, based on the history of capitalism, how our economy has always benefited from those at the margins remixing and mashing products up into new innovations. He makes the point that this always happen when commercialization and homogenization takes over a market. Pirates then come in and introduce their own cultural re-interpretations on it and jump start the innovative, creative process again for the larger market. I think this idea has some interesting implications for the church. And government even. It’s definitely an interesting book. But again, Mason spends way to much time saying the same thing. The book could have been half as long and been much better.

The Politics of Heaven (A-)
Very rarely do I come across a book that I’m genuinely interested in. Most books I read are stuff that I’m vaguely familiar with. Or interested in. Or have some experience with. I picked up this book on the synopsis on the back cover alone (and it was also a librarian’s feature shelf pick). I thought the book was going to be about evangelicals and their politics shaped by an afterlife. And while it was a bit about that . . . it had more to do with a “theology of fear”. I honestly found the book incredibly interesting. I learned stuff about people and history that I didn’t know before. It was genuinely informative. The author, Earl Shorris, spends time banging on Wolfowitz, Cheney, and Bush. But he shows his true moderate, un-biased voice when he spends equal time critiquing the foundations that both Clintons have built their politics off of. As well as Jim Wallis and other evangelicals like Falwell and Dobson. His basic premise is that both Democrats and Republicans rely way too heavily on “fear”, i.e. nuclear, after-life, hell, heaven, etc, as a political tool. And that ultimately, the majority of our politics lean way to heavily on “politics of the moment” as opposed to sound, intellectual discourse rooted in philosophy, spirituality, and economics. The argument being that we have far more to learn from Aristotle than we do from political advisors seeking to capitalize on the politics of the moment. It’s a bit long. And the writing jumps around a bit. But for interesting history lessons and informative insights alone, it’s worth a read.

Justice In The Burbs (B+)
It’s hard to write about a book that you already agree with before you read it. It’s hard to give that a “grade”. When their basic premise is things you already do or are practicing in various degrees. The book is good. Will and Lisa Samson write an excellent primer on what justice is and could look like in the suburbs and beyond. My only complaint is that it is written more for a soccer mom who has no experience or on-ramp to justice work. So that if you’re already practicing or moving in justice streams in the suburbs or city, you won’t find anything necessarily new outside of encouragement that you’re not alone and that soccer moms aren’t as evil as you thought. Their chapter on a Theology of Place is worth the price of the book, although since I got it for free, I’m not sure what that would be. The book’s strongest asset is that it has a rather likable human nature to it. When writing or talking about justice, it’s easy to walk away feeling guilty. Or discouraged. Or overwhelmed. Will & Lisa have written a book that doesn’t rely on those “guilt-tactics”. Instead they’ve written a book full of humanity and one that stokes the imagination with old/new ideas and old/new alternatives. Which leads it to be a rather hopeful, encouraging book. A gentle prodding to take a few baby steps in the right direction and then trusting that you will take bigger steps from there. It’s definitely a good read. And the first person to email me or leave a comment can have my copy. I got it for free so I will pass it along to you for free. First come, first serve.

Book Share: The Big Switch by Nicholas Carr.

“Cheap elecricity, cheap cars, and cheap gas, combined with the rising incomes of a growing middle class, prompted an exodus from cities to suburbs and a shift from the public entertainment offered by theaters, amusement parks, and urban streets to the private diversions served up by televisions, radios, and hi-fi sets. Broadcast media, also made possible by electricity, brought the Great White Way of the city into the living room – and, thanks to advertising, you didn’t even have to buy a ticket. The spectacle came to you, conveniently and for free. The mass culture remained, and in fact was further strengthened by popular radio and television programs and hit records, but its products were increasingly consumed in private.” – excerpted from The Big Switch by Nicholas Carr

Book Share: The Politics of Heaven by Earl Shorris.

Excerpted from The Politics of Heaven: American In Fearful Times by Earl Shorris

I’ve never been a huge Sigmund Freud fan. In fact, I think he’s a bit of a loon. But he actually sounds rather succint here.

The individual in any given nation has in this war a terrible opportunity to convince himself of what should occassionally strike him in peacetime – that the state has forbidden to the individual the practice of wrongdoing, not because it desired to abolish it, but because it desires to monopolize it, like salt and tobacco. The warring state permits itself every such misdeed, every such act of violence, as would disgrace the individual man. It practices not only the accepted stratagems, but also deliberate lying and deception against the enemy; and this, too, in a measure which appears to surpass the usage of former wars. The state exacts the utmost degree of obedience and sacrifice from its citizens, but at the same time treats them as children by maintaining an excess of secrecy, and a censorship of news and expressions of opinion that renders the spirits of those thus intellectually oppressed defenseless against every unfathomable turn of events and every sinister rumor. It absolves itself from the guarantees and contracts it had formed with other states, and makes unabashed confession of it’s rapacity and lust for power, which the private individual is then called upon to sanction in the name of patriotism.

- Sigmund Freud quoted from “Thoughts for the Times on War and Death” (1915)