Thomas à Kempis. The Imitation of Christ. Translated by William Benham, Project Gutenberg, Feb. 1999.

The Imitation of Christ is one of those classics that I finally got around to reading. Because of its provenance in the fifteenth century and its popularity among Catholics, it is sometimes said to be the second most widely read book in history next to the Bible. I have also read the same claim about Pilgrim’s Progress and Don Quixote. At any rate, it is up there.

Kempis was a monk, so there is a meditative flavor to the book, but I have known of many Protestants who have read it with blessing. Nearly all of what the book has to say applies to all Christ followers regardless of church affiliation.

The theme of The Imitation of Christ could be summed up in the following verses from the Bible:

Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (I Peter 5:5-9)

Most of the book is dedicated to a single idea: humility. Much of it has to do with self-examination. How sinful are we? How undeserving of God’s salvation?

Much of it is a warning about what the verse in Peter above calls “the world.” Resist temptation. Alas, many times we do not. This ties in with the humility because things we see and experience in this present world and present age do not last. As we say today, you can’t take it with you.

A number of years ago, we reviewed The Good Soldier. At one level it was a comparison and contrast between Protestantism and Catholicism. The main Protestant character suffered from heart problems, the main Catholic from mental health. What Ford in the novel was noting was simply that Protestants tend to look at their faith intellectually. If there is problem with them, it is a “heart problem”; they do not feel or experience the love of God. Catholics’ “mental illness,” is that they tend to look at faith emotionally and do not think about it as much.

The Imitation of Christ in that respect is very emotional. How do you feel? Don’t you feel guilty? Aren’t you humbled? Why are you attracted to things that are not going to last? In that sense, this book is a real gut check.

The format is something like a devotional book. Each chapter, perhaps each paragraph, could be read as a daily devotion to meditate upon. Its style is similar to that of one of the Biblical wisdom books such as Proverbs or Ecclesiastes. However, it is less practical or pragmatic than many of the Proverbs, because it turns the reader inward.

There are a few caveats. One of the rediscoveries of the Reformation was the righteousness of God. The Bible tells us that the believer is righteous, not because of his behavior but because of the work of Christ on the Cross and God’s free gift of salvation.

For he [God] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (II Corinthians 5:21, cf. Romans 4:3 and Genesis 15:6)

If we look at The Imitation of Christ on the emotional level, there appears to be a lack of relief. Jesus saves! We do not have to struggle for our salvation.

On the other hand, The Imitation of Christ nails it in another sense: The walk with Christ can be difficult. Kempis not only warns about different “worldly” temptations that most people understand are sinful and transient, but notes another serious temptation. Many times we are tempted to be silent about Jesus or to deny him. There are pressures in the world that look down on serious believers and try to get them off track and even persecute them. Even from the safety of his monastery, Kempis recognizes these things. He notes that not everyone has a calling to a religious ministry, for example.

Kempis speaks of “the uses of adversity.” Hard times can draw us closer to God. Shakespeare echoed this sentiment in As You Like It: “Sweet are the uses of adversity” (2.1.12). Similarly, like Shakespeare’s Duke quoted here, Pilgrim’s Progress echoes Kempis when it describes the Flatterer, “Grant me prudently to avoid the flatterer…for thus we go prudently on the way we have begun” (2.27.5).

This reviewer was struck by the number of times the author’s reminds us of his conversion. He assumes if the reader is interested in imitating Christ, he has had a conversion also. This sounds very evangelical and not sacramental at all. But if the translator’s preface is correct and Kempis was an Augustinian monk, that makes sense. Augustine, a saint in the Catholic Church, wrote his Confessions, which focus on his conversion to Christianity. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Luther was also an Augustinian. As Jesus said, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).

The last few sections focus on Communion. Here not only do we read about the Catholic doctrine of the priesthood, but meditations on Communion itself. As is even today a Catholic distinctive, the book elevates the Sacrament above the Bible (4.11.3). However, in another place he places them equally (4.11.5). Historically, the early reformer Wycliffe got in hot water because he taught that the priest’s job of teaching the Word was more important than sharing the sacraments.

At times I was reading this, I was asking myself, “How many different ways can a person be humble?” But other times I was inspired. Yes, we should draw close to God. We should seek Him. Even meditating on Jesus’ work on the Cross makes Communion more meaningful. Jill Shannon believes that Jesus is present at the Passover celebration even if the celebrants do not recognize Him. Perhaps, then, He is present in Communion as well, whether or not transubstantiation is involved.

That verse from Peter quoted earlier says “humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God.” James 4:10 tells us. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” If we really put ourselves in the sight of God, we see Him as He is (at least a little bit) and that is very humbling. To paraphrase The Lion King, He is God and we’re not. The Imitation of Christ helps us put things in that perspective.

N.B. This free version from Gutenberg is an older translation. It seems to be deliberately done to imitate the King James or Douay Bibles. It is not difficult, but get used to the -th rather than -s at the end of verbs. There probably are more modern translations available.

Henry James. Washington Square. 1881, Edited by David Price et al, Project Gutenberg, 13 Jan. 2015.

When I introduce the concept of realism to my American Literature students, I tell them that Henry James is the anti-Jane Austen. Washington Square illustrates that. The novel is set among the upper classes of New York City in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Young Catherine Sloper, daughter of a highly esteemed medical doctor, lives in a nice house with her father and widowed aunt. In the story, her father and aunt are working at cross purposes.

The handsome but perhaps careless Morris Townsend has expressed an interest in Catherine. He is really her first suitor. She tends to be quiet and does not have the quality of charm that young men find appealing. The aunt, Mrs. Penniman, really likes Mr. Townsend. She sees herself as a kind of go-between or duenna—not unlike the nurse in Romeo and Juliet.

Dr. Sloper, on the other hand, mistrusts Townsend. He does some informal background checking and is persuaded that Morris Townsend is only interested in Catherine’s money. The courtship lasts for a few years: Neither Catherine nor Morris give up and Dr. Sloper does not give in. Is this going to be a romantic comedy?

If Jane Austen were writing it, Catherine would either discover some sordid truth about Morris and find a more suitable young man. Or, if Morris is sincere, then Dr. Sloper would eventually see the error of his ways.

Is Aunt Penniman a petty meddler or sincerely working on behalf of her niece? Or is she simply a superannuated romantic in an age of realism?

If Jane Austen were writing this, the aunt might be humorously mistaken as Emma was, a klutz when it comes to matchmaking but still aware enough to either change her mind or convert her brother the doctor.

None of these things happen. Henry James, not Jane Austen, wrote Washington Square. But this short novel is no tragedy, either. James has a comic streak, but it is rooted in irony. The reader sees this right from the beginning.

The first chapter is dedicated to a background sketch of Dr. Sloper. He sounds like a very competent physician. We have to admit, though, that such doctors sometimes think their scientific knowledge means that they are superior to others.

While he is portrayed as a caring doctor, popular with his patients, there is no question that he identifies with the upper classes. This introduction tells us that he finds himself in a situation like the doctor in the Tom Lehrer sketch who specializes in the diseases of the rich.

Subtle, perhaps sardonic. Not laugh-out-loud funny, but ironic. I would truly tell my students that Washington Square is very, very realistic—both in the literary sense and in the literal sense. One could say that it is like the lives of most people, not comic, not tragic, not heroic. It just is—because that is the way life is.

P.S. As I have done many times in the past, I read Washington Square because an excerpt from this short novel appeared for one of the questions in this year’s English Literature Advanced Placement exam. I bit. It was worth it.

David Platt. Counter Culture. Revised edition, Tyndale, 2017.

The book Counter Culture‘s subtitle reads Following Christ in an Anti-Christian Age. The subtitle reflects a not uncommon theme in Christian writing going back to at least Francis Schaeffer, who called the era in the West beginning in the sixties as a post-Christian era. This book, though, is meant for right now. Indeed, the first chapter contains one of the best expositions of the Gospel for the contemporary culture that I have read. Platt gets it.

In the fifties and early sixties Billy Graham and others could simply say, “You are a sinner,” and everyone knew what that meant. By the seventies, sin was no longer an issue, but there was still a sense of authority. Dylan could sing back then, “You’ve got to serve somebody.” When someone said, “Jesus is Lord,” everyone knew what that meant, although Tom Wolfe was noting that the seventies was becoming the Me Decade.

How does one present the Gospel in a culture where anything goes, there is not even a sense of sin, and personal autonomy is the ideal? Platt sums it this way for today:

…the most offensive claim in Christianity is that God is the Creator, Owner, and Judge of every person on the planet. (16)

Platt envisions three types of readers of this book.

1. Those who for any number of reasons do not profess to be a Christian.
2. Those who call themselves Christian but do not believe the Gospel.
3. Those who believe the Gospel.

He challenges all three types.

He notes that even for the third type there are “popular” issues in which the Christian stand is clear such as poverty and slavery. There are also “unpopular” issues which Christians take a stand contrary to the culture such as sexuality and abortion. But the Gospel calls for taking a stand on all the issues.

The same heart of God that moves us to counter sex trafficking moves us to counter sexual immorality, and the same gospel that compels us to combat poverty compels us to defend marriage. (18)

Even though it is unpopular to say so, if people were all sexually moral, there would be no sex trafficking. If all children were born into a stable, monogamous marriage, there would be far less poverty.

Counter Culture presents a lot of wisdom. Platt brings each of these cultural topics into a perspective from the Gospel. We have to understand that we live in a fallen world. That God has established the way He wants people to live. That He has sent His Son Jesus to redeem the world. When we deal with virtually every cultural issue there is a question of—yes—sin. But also there is a way, sometimes numerous ways, that God directs people to counter the sin and redeem the situation.

As noted already, Platt sees that many people, especially political and cultural elites, have more often than not found Jesus offensive. Still, God’s way is true, and redemption is possible. There are nine chapters each dedicated to a different current issue. All reflect the nature of God and the nature of man. God and man are often at odds, but Platt points out how redemption is possible—not by a political movement or legal decree but by the Lord changing hearts and directing His people to serve in different ways.

“The Gospel and Poverty” chapter gives practical advice to churches in ministering their communities as well as ways to help on an international scale.

“The Gospel and Abortion” effectively presents arguments for saving babies’ lives and examples of practical action.

“Orphans and Widows” stresses adoption, fostering, as well as finding older people who are truly in need.

Perhaps the most moving chapter is “The Gospel and Sex Slavery.” This describes recruiters for urban brothels and shrine prostitutes in Asia, but it also tells of rescuing American women who have been trapped into prostitution. In this topic as well as abortion and sexual immorality, Platt makes an appeal to women.

Just as it was in His own day, Jesus’ way is the true way for freedom for women. Platt does admit that he does not know much about sex slavery involving boys, but we know that this is an issue as well. American pimps recruit both boys and girls from Latin America. My first personal encounter with the concept of sex trafficking was from a gay man in Boston who spoke about hiring boys from Central America.

Three of those issues also apply to the next two chapters, “The Gospel and Marriage” and “The Gospel and Sexual Immorality.” Things like abortion and sex trafficking would be non-issues if there were respect for marriage and sexual self-control. In all of these instances, Platt does not preach. Yes, he uses the Bible, but he mostly tells stories.

He has stories from people in each of these areas. In some cases it is his own experience, but in many cases it is the experience of others. For example, a young friend of his was taking a “bucket list” hiking trip in Nepal. On his trek, he came across a man who was hiking in the opposite direction with a group of nine and ten year old girls. This appeared unusual, but the man freely explained he was taking the girls to work as shrine prostitutes after paying the girls’ families for their services. It was a common form of slave trading in his part of the world. That encounter changed the course of Platt’s friend’s life. He had a cause.

Two related chapters are “The Gospel and Ethnicity” and “The Gospel and Refugees.” As I write this, two major topics in American news are racism and immigration. Platt asks, “What does the Gospel say about these things?” As always, Platt has some practical answers along with some ideas for helping us with our perspectives. I am forever grateful to a family of a different race that took care of me when I was going through a trial. They were one of the first witnesses I encountered who spoke of Jesus in a personal way.

The last topic has become an interesting one even with some political reactions to Covid-19: “The Gospel and Religious Liberty.” You see, right from the beginning in Eden, God gave people the freedom to choose Him or not. In all the other ways apart from Him, there is a catch. Man can choose his own way apart from God’s, but there are consequences.

Why is it that in some sixty countries Christian practice is either restricted or outlawed? Why? How can something so moral and, at the least, harmless if not beneficial be outlawed? It has to do with our own nature. As the quotation near the beginning of this review reminds us, the Gospel is offensive.

God’s way is to allow people the freedom to choose. That is just. So we should be tolerant, too.

Tolerance implies disagreement. I have to disagree with you to tolerate you. We can then be free to contemplate how to treat one another with the greatest dignity in view of our differences. (219)

I do recommend this book for all three types of people Platt describes. For the person who is skeptical about God or the God of the Bible, see what this book has to say. For the person who is a cultural Christian, this could be the challenge to really understand God’s call. And for the believer, especially the younger audience Platt has in mind, perhaps it is time to grow up.

Platt tells us that “the most deadly spiritual force” is not sexual sin, slavery, religious intolerance, adultery, or any of the other specific behaviors listed in the chapters. It is “the assumption that God’s Words is subject to human judgment.” (171) The first words a human being heard the devil say were, “Did God really say…” (See Genesis 3:1) That has been a struggle in the human heart and mind ever since.

So pray to God, participate with God, and proclaim the Gospel. And do these things not because you have a low-grade sense of guilt that you ought to act, but do them because you have a high-grade sense of grace that makes you want to act. (228)

Read this book.

P.S. Platt mentions in passing the following article which turns some assumptions about Christianity on its ear: http://cmm.world/about/the-surprising-discovery-about-those-colonialist-proselytizing-missionaries/. This is worth a look as well.

Jay Milbrandt. They Came for Freedom. Nelson, 2017.

Subtitled The Forgotten Epic Adventure of the Pilgrims, the reader might be tempted to ask, “Another book about the Plymouth Pilgrims?” We visit Plymouth, Massachusetts, nearly every year on a school field trip, and we know that the folks in Plymouth were looking forward to a big year this year—the 400th anniversary of the settlement—but the virus problem has certainly hurt some of their plans.

What makes this book different? Almost like a novel, it tells the story of note only how but why the Scrooby, England, Separatists ended up in New England. We also get probably the most detailed story of Squanto, how he ended up in England and learned English. Although Milbrandt does not make a big deal of it, the Pilgrims settled in a spot that the Indians feared because of a plague three years before. The land itself would not be contested, nor would it have to be purchased. And then the one surviving member of the Indian village that was wiped out had spent approximately fifteen years in England or among English sailors and knew the language and customs.

We learn how Squanto three times sailed to England from North America, the first time in 1605. His is really quite a tale. First he was kidnapped but was treated fairly well in England and learned a trade. The native Americans of New England had their own caste or class system, and the orphaned Squanto (Tisquantum) was of the lowest class. He was generally treated with respect, especially by sailors, tradesmen, and fishermen who wanted to learn more about the land and peoples of northeastern North America.

On his second voyage to England, his ship was captured by a Spanish vessel. The crew was taken to Spain where Squanto and some of the crew spent two years in prison and at least one year in a monastery before they were able to return to England.

We not only learn about Squanto’s adventures but also about the background of the religious group that sailed to North America. We learn about the martyrs—there is no other word—Barrow and Greenwood, early English believers who could not in good conscience worship at or serve the state church. Even Queen Elizabeth was appalled when she heard of their executions. Of all people, she wanted no repeat of her late sister, Queen “Bloody” Mary.

It does appear that Archbishops Whitgift and Laud, among others, were more concerned about their own control rather than the consciences of Christian believers. In 1607, the first attempt to move to more tolerant Holland was thwarted. Most of the men, including seventeen year old William Bradford, spent a year in prison.

Milbrandt tells us in some detail about the experiences the expatriate English had in the Netherlands, and how they spent ten years in Leiden. Interestingly, the congregation’s elder, William Brewster, Jr., started a printing press. He produced at least fifteen different books and tracts in English and imported them to England. Some came to the attention of King James who was upset not only at some of the content but that the printer was beyond the reach of British censors.

This detail is significant. The Plymouth Colony legally observed both religious freedom—including non-establishment, i.e. no state church—and freedom of the press. Of course, there were no presses in the early colony, but there was no censorship. These are the foundational liberties for all the other liberties which would be declared as a result of the American Revolution.

As with Bradford’s own On Plymouth Plantation, there is a tragic sense. The Plymouth Pilgrims never quite re-caught the vision for their free churches. The Massachusetts Bay Colony with its own state church absorbed Plymouth eventually, but the vision did not die.

Today most of the vigorous churches in the United States are free associations. While there may be many “politically correct” challenges for some of them, most Americans strive not only for freedom of conscience but freedom of expression, too. The challenges are different today, but the goals have not changed for most of us—a nation under God with liberty and justice for all.

Joel C. Rosenberg. Inside the Revolution. Tyndale, 2009.

Look among the nations, and see;
      wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
      that you would not believe if told. Habakkuk 1:5

Joel Rosenberg is best known today for his novels. We have reviewed a pair of novels that make up the first two books of a trilogy about the Shiite Muslim Twelfth Imam. Inside the Revolution is nonfiction, but it covers some of the same material that the trilogy covers. Indeed, one can argue that Inside the Revolution contains background research for the novels.

At one point, for example, Rosenberg quotes a high-ranking Iranian defector who said that Iran would not test an atomic bomb until they had created five to eight of them. That is what happens in his novel The Twelfth Imam.

He also points out how at various times, especially in Iran in the 1970s and even after several terrorist attacks on the United States, that the American government and press was largely ignorant of what was going on. This is reflected in several characters in the trilogy. He sums it up noting that the idea of religion motivating people seems irrelevant to secular Western elites and that, in the Middle East, concessions are “evidence of weakness” (61).

Rosenberg divides Inside the Revolution into three parts. The First part, “The Radicals,” outlines the ideologies of both Sunni and Shiite radicals. When the book came out, Bin Laden was still alive, but we can understand that ISIS, Al Qaeda, and the Muslim Brotherhood have similar theologies and practices.

Although the Iranian Shiites are more apocalyptic because of their belief in the Twelfth Imam, the approaches of Iranian radicals and their allies like Hezbollah and Hamas are similar.

In his novel The Twelfth Imam, Rosenberg notes that the Shiites do not address anyone as an Imam. That term is reserved for those eleven historical leaders descended from Mohammad and the one yet to come. In Inside the Revolution Rosenberg tells us that people would refer to the Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as an Imam. While Khomeini never used the term himself, he also never corrected anyone who addressed him that way.

Both his successor, the Ayatollah Khamenei and the Iranian Prime Minister Ahmadinejad seemed to have come out of nowhere to their high positions. Both men spoke of Khomeini as an Imam, and both have promoted the cult of the Twelfth Imam. Rosenberg believes there were things going on behind the scenes to facilitate their promotions.

Rosenberg relies on hundreds of sources, documents, books, interviews from all sides. He makes a convincing case, even if some of the material is dated.

The most sanguine part of the book is the second section entitled “The Reformers.” These are Islamic moderates who interpret the Quran differently from the radicals. The first section is summed up as “Islam is the answer: jihad is the way.” The second section begins, “Islam is the answer, but jihad is not the way.” Here we meet some democratically oriented leaders in the Islamic world who have had some success in spite of the radicals in their midst. These people include Afghan Hamid Karzai, Iraqi Kurd Jalal Talabani, and Iraqi Shiite Nouri Al-Maliki.

The men all see potential in some kind of democratic republic bringing together the disparate tribes and religions in the region. There is a great sense of optimism. Even though it appears the average Muslim is not crazy about the radicals, we have seen that the moderates have not had an easy time dealing with the radicals like ISIS, Hezbollah, the Taliban, and similar groups. Still Rosenberg sees hope.

One example Rosenberg details is Morocco, an Islamic but pro-Western country. Since the writing of this book, there have been crackdowns on non-Islamic behavior and religion, but it is still more tolerant than many places. One Moroccan leader tells him “Bin Laden is not a Muslim” and “terrorists are creatures of chaos” (355). Since the book came out in 2009, there have been some setbacks for the democratic moderates, but the people profiled in this section have a vision that may be worth sharing.

The third section stands out as something new and not especially political: “Islam is not the answer, and jihad is not the way: Jesus is the way.” Rosenberg presents some of the same scenarios as A Wind in the House of Islam. Rosenberg is a storyteller, so he mostly tells testimonies of the people in the Near East who are sharing the Gospel message and those who have become Christ followers.

Some are evangelists, whether underground or in the open. Some use media such as radio, the Internet, satellite television, CDs, DVDs, or the printed word. Rosenberg calls these people “The Revivalists.”

Some follow the pattern of Paul in Acts 19:37, that is, they present Jesus and the Gospel directly, without any mention of any other gods or religions. Others are more apologetics oriented—they raise critiques of Islam and the Quran to demonstrate the historical accuracy and truth of the Bible. Both approaches can be effective.

Rosenberg tells some stories of people whose names he has to change, and in some cases even the country where they are living. Other are public figures such as Father Zakaria Botros from Egypt who has a daily television program. Nearly all have been threatened, some have been arrested, and others even killed. Some like a man he calls Samir were former terrorists.

As was documented in A Wind in the House of Islam and Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, many of the conversions are remarkably supernatural. Jesus or some Christian message often comes in dreams. One woman living alone had been watching a Christian DVD she had been given. The DVD ended with a call to repent based on Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” She took the message literally, opened her apartment door, and Jesus was standing there!

One chapter of interest to Christians is titled “The Theology of the Revivalists.” There are five core beliefs they all have in spite of some differences in doctrines and practices.

1. God loves all mankind.
2. All mankind is sinful and separated from God.
3. Jesus Christ is mankind’s only hope of salvation.
4. A person must individually choose to follow Jesus Christ as savior and Lord.
5. Christ followers are commanded to love their neighbors and their enemies and to make disciples of all nations.

Inside the Revolution notes that while most of the Revivalists are MBBs—Muslim Background Believers—some are what he calls NCBBs—Nominally Christian Background Believers. An NCBB is one was culturally a Christian or raised with some kind of connection to the Christian religion but who at some point had a born again experience based on item #4 above.

Rosenberg points out that a number of different countries, not just Israel, appear in Bible prophecies about the End Times. Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and Libya are explicitly named. Other places have different names from the time when the books of the Bible were written. Iran in the Bible is called Persia or Elam. The region covered by Iraq is included in Babylon and Chaldea. The Kurds are descendants of the Medes.

Although Rosenberg takes a standard British or American dispensationalist view of prophecies concerning Israel, he is more optimistic than say, Bob Finley, about the re-gathering of the nation of Israel.

Many Arabs, Iranians, and others in the Middle East are not happy that Israel became a country on May 14, 1948, that millions of Jews have moved to Israel, and that the Israeli military has become powerful and highly effective. Nevertheless, a growing number of Revivalists are beginning to realize that these recent historical events—as difficult and painful as they have been for themselves, their families, and their fellow countrymen—are actually fulfillment of ancient biblical prophecies and thus further evidence that we are in the last days. (477)

Rosenberg has researched his subjects well and tells their stories as a novelist would. If nothing else, Inside the Revolution gives us some idea of current events and helps us appreciate the research that went into his novels.

Other books by Joel C. Rosenberg reviewed here:
Dead Heat
The Last Jihad
Damascus Countdown
The Twelfth Imam
The Tehran Initiative

Gordon Korman. Showoff. Scholastic, 2012.

Wow! We thought we had read all the books in the Gordon Korman Swindle Series, but somehow we missed Showoff.

As usual, Korman tells a wacky, maybe not quite believable, but entertaining story about Griffin Bing—the man with a plan—and his friends.

Readers may recall that Mr. Bing, Griffin’s father, is an inventor. He might remind us of Gyro Gearloose, Clyde Crashcup, Bunsen Honeydew, you get the idea. His specialty is making devices to help in orchards. His latest invention—still in testing stage—is the Spritz-O-Matic. He and Mrs. Bing are traveling in Europe to get potential clients in the fruit growing business.

So Griffin is spending six weeks with his best friend, the narcoleptic Ben Slovak. Ben, readers may recall, carries a service ferret who nips him whenever he starts nodding off.

Of course, there is Savannah Drysdale, the animal lover and owner of Luthor, the oversize Doberman terror. Savannah has taken Luthor to see a three time world champion beagle who is touring and preparing for the upcoming Globals in two months. Suddenly, Luthor cuts loose through the crowd and knocks over the champion dog, breaking its tail and disrupting the whole event. The authorities take Luthor to the dog pound, and the owners of the beagle sue the Drysdales for seven million dollars.

Even though he has sworn off plans, Griffin hatches one to save Luthor, a plan that is wilder and even more improbable than his others. He uses his parents’ credit card, given to him while they are away to spring Luthor from the pound. Then he decides to figure out a way to enter Luthor into a dog show to “prove” that Luthor is well trained and must have been provoked.

How Griffin and Ben keep the plan a secret from their parents for a month involves some of the others as well: Logan, the aspiring actor; Pitch, who loves climbing heights; and Melissa, the shy hacker. Oh, and someone else: the world-famous dog trainer or “dog whisperer” Dmitri Trebezhov.

Trebezhov has trained many champions, even giving the champion beagle its start. But three years ago he disappeared. He said that he was sick of the way that dogs were being treated by so many of the champions’ owners, so he quit. When Melissa looks up the owner of Trebezhov’s web site, WHOIS tells her it is Mr. I. Hateyou, 1313 Deadend St., Apt. 0, Pho NY.

Still, they manage to track him down, and when Trebezhov sees an opportunity to stick it to the dog show world, he miraculously transforms Luthor to be a real show dog. Luthor? He is now known as Lex Luthor Savannah Spritz-O-Matic.

Griffin and Dmitri both each get warning notes in Scotch taped newsprint not to enter Luthor in any dog shows—or else. It does get dangerous.

And it all comes together in a typical Gordon Korman climax: the dog whisperer, the real villain, the actor, the ferret (or, should I say, the not yet recognized breed of Mongolian ferret hound), Griffin, Griffin’s new love-hate “girlfriend, the Spritz-O-Matic, and more. Have fun.

Timothy Keller with Katherine L. Alsdorf. Every Good Endeavor. Penguin, 2016.

Keller gets his title from John Coltrane, the jazz saxophonist. Coltrane composed his most famous piece, “A Love Supreme,” after he had had an encounter with God. He wrote in his liner notes that it was, “An attempt to say ‘THANK GOD’ through our work, even as we do in our hearts and with our tongues. May He help and strengthen all men in every good endeavor.” (248, emphasis in original)

So Every Good Endeavor is about work. There is sometimes a perspective that work is a necessary evil. The Greeks and Romans, for example, imagined a past “Golden Age” where people did not have to work. H. G. Wells imagined a similar future with his Eloi in The Time Machine. Neither are biblical. God works. The Garden of Eden may have been a paradise, but we are told that Adam tended the garden—as Hamlet reminds us, “Adam digged.” (5.1.34)

Keller notes that both Christians and non-Christians alike often have a skewed view of work. For some, work is all there is. For others, our work has value because of its status or how much money we make. These ideas often lead to, as Thoreau would say, quiet desperation, not to mention snobbery.

Today people are often counseled to emphasize their “passion.” But this does not always translate into jobs and can be a form of idolatry. We see our work or our income as our chief good. Often it simply becomes a selfish, “What’s in it for me?”

For Christians and others with a moral outlook, there is a tendency to see only certain types of work as having value: working in a ministry or a nonprofit of some kind. Yet Keller reminds us that the term vocation, literally “calling,” applies not just to work for a religious organization or a charity, but to all beneficial work—every good endeavor. Even jazz! People in all kinds of occupations are helping others: farmers and grocers and many others provide food, artists like Coltrane provide joy and pleasure, businesses of all kinds provide goods and services that people want or need.

We understand that not every occupation is a “good endeavor.” Keller pastors a church in Manhattan. He hears of bankers providing necessary loans to help people and businesses but also of them providing questionable derivatives. As always, there is a balance.

The key to understanding what a good endeavor is is to see God’s plan for His creation. He created the world as a good place (see Genesis 1). His vision is for goodness. People can also see what things are good.

But God’s creation fell. We live in a fallen world. I once heard a preacher say, “When someone asks me what my background was, I say, ‘Sinner.’” We all sin. Jesus’ own passion included a lot of suffering, most of it unjust.

So the third part of God’s plan is necessary, too—the Gospel. God has a plan to redeem His creation, to make it good again. That includes people in their bodies, souls, and spirits. Sometimes Christians and other religious people will say that the physical realm is evil, that only the spiritual side counts. But Jesus came in the flesh (see I John 4:2-3). God’s promise of redemption includes not only heaven, but a new earth, and new bodies.

Keller also points out the often overlooked traditional concept of common grace. That is the idea that God is generous with His gifts even to a fallen world. Many inventions and discoveries have been made by nonbelievers. In many occupations a Christian may have a non-Christian mentor. God’s gifts are irrevocable, regardless of who has them or if they recognize the giver of the gift. Snobbery and self-righteousness are traps for anyone. Yes, Jesus suffered under the Roman elitists, but He was frequently opposed by the religious elites, too.

Keller uses many illustrations from the Bible and from the real world. For example, Esther’s beauty was a gift from God. She could have exploited it for her own vanity as her predecessor Vashti apparently had done. Instead, her mentor Mordecai noted that perhaps she had become queen “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). She risked her life, but God’s purposes were accomplished, and Haman’s plan for “ethnic cleansing” was thwarted.

Every Good Endeavor is a well-written book based on the authors’ observations and experiences. The credited co-author was a Silicon Valley CEO before moving to New York. They speak from experience to all of us, believer and unbeliever alike. What are we really working for? What are the gifts that God has given us? Are we using them in whatever endeavor we are working on?

James M. McPherson. Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg. Illustrated edition, Crestline, 2017.

Hallowed Ground started out in 2003 as a guide book for visitors to get the big picture of the Battle of Gettysburg. Author of Battle Cry of Freedom, McPherson is one of the most respected historians of the American Civil War.

This was written after many years of taking his students on field trips to Gettysburg. There are specific directions, for example: “A quarter mile north, across the road and next to Buford’s monument…” This book takes us by the hand, day by day and almost hour by hour. If visitors were to follow McPherson’s directions, they would be able take in the whole scope of the battle.

This edition is not a typical portable guide for walking around the battle town. It is illustrated with current photographs along with many engravings and photos from the 1860s. It is a great one both to read and to look at the pictures. Taken to the site, it would work in a motor vehicle or with a backpack.

With the popularity of Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels and the film Gettysburg, based on the novel, McPherson tries to bring some things into balance. There is no question that the disagreement between Lee and Longstreet makes for good drama and the courageous defense of Little Round Top saved the Union left flank. Still, there was an equally rigorous defense on the right flank around Culp’s Hill at the same time.

McPherson explains that Lee assumed that Union troops had been sent to reinforce the two flanks, and that is why the Confederate assaults there failed. Lee expected that the center ranks would be depleted and an attack on the Union center on the third day would succeed. A similar combination of flank attacks and a central assault worked at Chancellorsville.

Longstreet was not at Chancellorsville. He, Pickett, and Hood were in the Norfolk area at the time. The Union may have learned from its experience there. Lee was confident that what McPherson calls the Pickett-Pettigrew charge would work. Longstreet could not make himself give the order for Pickett to attack. He simply nodded his head when Pickett asked him if it was time.

Hallowed Ground also tells about the surrounding cavalry skirmishes. Jeb Stuart was out of communication with Lee for the first two days. One of the most successful cavalry leaders was George Armstrong Custer. Some years ago I read an account of a Michigan cavalry officer who served under Custer in the war. Custer was remarkably effective throughout. McPherson says that his debacle at Little Big Horn in 1876 was out of character.

McPherson also describes different things that the National Park Service are doing to make the geography more like the setting of the battle at the time. This means cutting down some woods that were fields back then, and planting woods that are open country now. McPherson expressed concern that the woods might be thicker than back then because in the 1860s most of the understory would have been grazed away by cattle. That is probably not an issue because if Gettysburg is anything like most of the rest of Eastern North America in this century, the understories of most woods have been browsed clean by deer.

Hallowed Ground includes excerpts from primary sources. We read parts of Lee’s orders, Meade’s report, and excerpts from various memoirs. It ends with Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

McPherson debunks a few legends about Gettysburg but does note at least two natives of the town who moved to Virginia and ended up attacking their native burg. He also tells a few stories about some of the monuments at Gettysburg. Many are pictured. He informs and entertains.

Hallowed Ground is a great overview of the battle. It tells the story without getting bogged down in minutiae. With or without the illustrations, it should be a helpful guide for anyone visiting the battlefield.

Twice a minor detail spoke to me personally. McPherson tells briefly about two different young men who at one time or another were at Gettysburg to learn the craft of carriage making. My great grandfather Fridolin Miller, an orphaned immigrant from Switzerland, in 1863 was a fourteen year old apprentice carriage maker. He was in Gettysburg in the fall of 1863. He was not there for the battle, but everyone had a day off for the cemetery dedication in November. He climbed a tree to get a better look at President Lincoln and remembered the Gettysburg Address for the remainder of his long life (1849-1943).

Matthew Pearl. The Last Dickens. Read by Paul Michael, Midwest Tapes, 2009.

The Last Dickens is an adventurous historical mystery surrounding a Charles Dickens mystery, namely The Mystery of Edwin Drood. James Ripley Osgood, partner of the Boston publisher Fields and Osgood (formerly Ticknor and Fields) tries to see if he can find the ending of The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Readers may know that Edwin Drood was the novel Dickens was working on when he died. He had released six monthly installments, and his contract called for six more.

The novel has a good deal of material based on history. While it is set mostly in 1870 at the time of Dickens’ death, there are flashbacks to 1867 and Dickens’ second and last American tour.

The lively cast of characters makes for intriguing reading, and the pace increases as the novel develops. We know that certain places and characters in Dickens’ novels are based on real people and places. Inventing Scrooge, for example, tells us there was a gravestone Dickens noted to one Ebenezer Scroggie, “A Meal Man.” He imagined or misread the epitaph saying “A Mean Man” and changed Scroggie to Scrooge.

So here we discover the father of a deceased Edward True (or Trude, it was hard to tell since this was a reading). Edward was apparently murdered by a corrupt and devious uncle. Edwin Drood and his uncle both fall for the same woman, and then Edwin disappears. Because the story was unfinished, we never know if Edwin is dead or alive, if his uncle did indeed murder him, or if something else happens.

Even back in 1870, speculation was all over the place. A spiritualist claimed that the ghost of Dickens had dictated the ending to her. A play based on the novel had a different ending. In the novel, the pompous actor Grunewald does not like the ending written for the part of Drood because he dies too early in the play. The English publisher and Dickens’ agent disagree about it, too.

The situation is further complicated because there were no clear copyright laws in 1870. Though Fields and Osgood had the American publishing contract with Dickens, Harper Brothers would come out with pirated editions.

There was a small group of people working on the docks of New York and Boston known as bookaneers. Pearl, the author of The Dante Club, would later write a novel called The Last Bookaneer. They would steal manuscripts shipped in from Europe and then sell them to unscrupulous publishers who would then come out with competing editions earlier and cheaper because they paid no royalties. In the story, one of the Brothers Harper is not above employing bookaneers.

A courier for Fields and Osgood is murdered after picking up a manuscript from England on the docks. It is apparently the next installments of Edwin Drood. The lawyer who happens to discover the dead body helps himself to the manuscript, and soon someone murders him, too.

A society matron stalks Dickens in America, breaks into his hotel room, and apparently steals something. She may know something about Edwin Drood as well.

Lurking in the background is a cold-blooded killer who calls himself Herman. He nearly kills Osgood on a steamer that he and Rebecca Sand, a bookkeeper from the publishing firm and sister of the murdered courier, are taking to England. While there, they meet with Dickens’ British publisher and agent to see if there is any evidence for the final installments or what plans Dickens may have had for the characters.

He attends the Christie’s estate auction where Dickens’ possessions are sold. He meets a neighbor of Dickens who calls himself John Falstaff and runs an inn across the road from Dickens’ Gad’s Hill estate. Another person who appears helpful is a man whom Dickens helped (Dickens had a soft spot for charity cases) who calls himself Datchery—which the name of a character in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

We also read fair representations of one of Dickens’ daughters and his sister-in-law who helped her sister raise Dickens’ family. Of course, by 1867 Dickens and his wife had separated. And we read quite a bit about Frank Dickens, a son who is stationed in India as a British constable.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood involves some opium addiction, and England at the time was trying to corner the legal market on the drug. Frank Dickens is investigating Indian opium smugglers who may be connected to some of the dockside action in England and America.

Although he is clearly beaten, the Fields and Osgood courier who is killed was was also given a lethal dose of opium hypodermically. His sister says he never touched the stuff, but the police wrote off his death as drug-induced.

When he visited America in 1867, Dickens was very interested in a famous crime committed at a Harvard laboratory. A Harvard professor murdered George Parkman, a prominent businessman and uncle of historian Francis Parkman. The professor was able to conceal the murder for some time because he had hidden the remains of the body inside a wall of the laboratory.

On that 1867 visit, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., the writer, took Dickens on a tour of Boston one day. Dickens wanted to see the laboratory where the murder had been committed. He also spoke to him about Poe and narcotics.

Did these things inspire The Mystery of Edwin Drood as well? What about Chapman, Dickens’ publisher, or Forester the agent? What do they know? Or the helpful British businessman who befriends Osgood on the steamer trip and then bails him out when he is arrested in London after investigating an opium den?

This is a very creative tale, a mystery, and a literary exploration. Readers of all types should enjoy it for a variety of reasons.

We listened to the recorded version which is very well done. Mr. Michael, the reader, does a terrific job with the voices of the various characters. The only quibble we have is that he mispronounces some of the Bostonian names: He got Quincy correct (kwin-zee not kwin-see) but missed Concord (sounds the same as conquered) and Houghton (hoe-ton, not how-ton).

We also note that the book was published by Random House. We cannot imagine why Harper wouldn’t touch it…

John Bishop. Act of Deception. Mantid Press, 2020.

Act of Deception is the second in what looks like will be a series on Dr. Jim Bob Brady, a Houston, Texas, orthopedic surgeon. We reviewed the first one. This has a similar tone, but quite a different story. This is more of a legal thriller than a mystery.

A patient of Brady’s had a “routine” knee replacement but the knee became so infected they had to amputate. Now Dr. Brady is being sued for four times what his insurance covers. Still, he is convinced he did nothing wrong. The patient, farmer Billy Jones, had tests done showing no infection. Two months later, he returns with the knee infected. Soon it becomes gangrenous, and the doctor has to amputate.

There is more, of course. The lawyer representing Mr. Jones is a very influential person in Houston and seldom loses. However, there may be a question about how he finds out about patients whom he can use to sue and collect big commissions.

One Sunday afternoon when Dr. Brady happens to come into the hospital, he notices that one of his patients was given a business card with a phone number to call if he wants to sue the hospital or one of his doctors. Depending on the state and how it is done, this is either unethical (soliciting) or illegal (barratry). A lawyer friend of Dr. Brady who figured in the first story tells him what barratry is but also tells him that it is nearly impossible to prove.

Now, the business card is not that of a lawyer, but identifies Mr. John Davis as a paralegal. He is a private investigator used by many lawyers—including Dr. Brady’s friend—but he may be soliciting clients for some of them.

Like the first book, Act of Deception has a leisurely tone. We get a sense of what it is like to be a prominent surgeon in a big city. Indeed, what Dr. Brady pays a year for malpractice insurance is about what your reviewer earns in a year as a teacher. Brady dines out frequently and drinks expensive brands of adult beverages. He and his wife also are involved in numerous charities along with other doctors, lawyers, and business executives in town.

Donovan Shaw, the big-time malpractice lawyer who is suing Dr. Brady on Mr. Jones’ behalf, shows up at many of the same social functions that the Bradys attend. This makes for some interesting conversations and threats. It also gives we mere middle class mortals an idea of how the upper classes live. Yes, you get to own a nice car, a swimming pool, a summer house on an island somewhere, but there is a price to pay. One thing Dr. Brady has going for him—his wife married him for love, not for money.

We also learn a lot about the malpractice business. Normally, the insurance company will try to work out a settlement before the case gets to court. Many times the settlement is all the plaintiff was looking for, so the plaintiff and the insurance company are satisfied. Of course, the doctor gets a black mark on his record. All it takes are a few settlements like that, and he is out of business.

In Dr. Brady’s case, he is convinced he did nothing wrong. He has documentation to show he was using the best procedures. But there are numerous doctors who are retired or no longer practice but who act as expert consultants and witnesses for lawyers. Mr. Shaw has found a well-credentialed doctor who is willing to testify that Dr. Brady made some mistakes.

There is more. As Mr. Shaw gets more ticked off because it seems like Dr. Brady is insisting on a court case, he raises the stakes and drops the suit against the hospital. The focus on Brady would put him out of business. Someone is looking for revenge.

There is more funny business. Dr. Brady is attacked in the hospital parking garage and is in a coma for ten days. He is recovering slowly but does have some time to look into more details about the Jones case. The name of a certain Dr. Johnson appears several times. There are a few other coincidences.

People of a certain age remember the Perry Mason television series. Perhaps they even read some Perry Mason novels (there are over eighty written by Erle Stanley Gardner). The Mason formula is that there is an investigation, facts are assembled, and attorney Perry Mason’s client virtually always seems guilty. But Mason orchestrates a climax in the courtroom that dramatically reveals the real criminal.

Well, Act of Deception is something like that. One difference is that Dr. Brady is involved in a civil lawsuit, not a criminal case. Still, there seems to be enough evidence to go to court rather than settle out of court, especially with Shaw’s new demands. The court scene is very tense, something that both Erle Stanley Gardner and Clint Eastwood would have commended.

One piece of trivia: At one point Brady, who sometimes play keyboard for a jazz combo in clubs, jokes about different names they could call their band. He says,”How about the Country Bumpkins? Or the Cryin’ Shames?” Well, there were actually two sixties rock groups called the Cryin’ Shames, one from England and one from America. The American group spelled their name as the Cryan Shames.