Philip Dick wrote this alternative history novel in 1962. The Allies have lost World War II and the Nazi's occupy the United States from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountain States. The Empire of Japan occupies the Pacific States up to the Rocky Mountains. The Rockies act as a neutral zone between these two powerful forces.
This Hugo Award winning novel was made into a steaming video series by Amazon this past year. While I immensely enjoyed the Amazon series (I read this book after binge watching the series!), this novel, to put it simply, is not the series. The storyline of the novel can be found within the series, but it is but one of many plot lines unfolding in that ten week storyline. Basically, if you love history, you'll devour this book. I read it quickly--indeed, I had a hard time putting it down!
Full disclosure: I know the author of this wonderful story and consider him to be my friend. That being said, Russell Smith is one heck of a story teller. He is also a very thoughtful, deep, intentional, thinker. This book is about the concept of living in an intentionally Christian community. Geneva Two, we learn early on in the story, is an organic community living within the Cincinnati metro where many of the residents have made a decision to live as Christians. This idea may puzzle some of you reading this post-- after all, aren't a majority of Americans Christian?
The short answer to that question is that most Americans don't intentionally live their faith in a holistic fashion. While I would hesitate to classify this book in the "Utopian" genre, the author does flirt with that idea throughout. This is a fast moving story written from the perspective of a reporter who has come to Geneva Two to learn more about this unique community. He learns that Geneva Two is not a perfect place, but it is a beautiful place...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
This is a fun book. Truman is Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. He is also the host of the podcast, "The Mortification of Spin."
For those who have not been introduced to Dr. Trueman, you will need to know that he is brilliant, funny, English, Reformed, and confessional. The forward to the book, written by Rodney Trotter, perhaps sums up this book the best, "The essays, aphorisms, and brief jottings in this book are not united by any internal theme beyond being reflections, whether direct, satirical, or merely subversive, or contemporary Western and particularly American culture, especially as it bleeds into the Christian world and receives inadequate responses therein. To the literal-minded, there is much here that will simply confuse; to those who prefer emoticons rather than whole sentences with built-in irony, I would simply suggest that you look elsewhere for inspiration." (page ix).
This is a great read that is funny and will make you think. If you don't want to ponder serious issues with a touch of satire and irony, stay away from Trueman!
I first became acquainted with Dr. Keller when I read, The Reason for God several years ago. Since that time I have read several of his books and been blessed by every one of them. This particular book addresses the ancient question of theodicy. That is, why do bad things happen to seemingly good people? Or perhaps viewed through a different lens, why does God permit evil and suffering to exist?
After a thoughtful introduction by Keller, he divides this book into three sections: Part One-Understanding the Furnace; Part Two-Facing the Furnace; and Part Three-Walking with God in the Furnace. To grab the readers attention, Dr. Keller opens this book with the following lines, "Suffering is everywhere, unavoidable, and its scope often overwhelms. If you spend one hour reading this book, more that five children throughout the world will have died from abuse and violence during that time. If you give the entire day to reading, more than one hundred children will die violently...Thousands die from traffic accidents or cancer every hour, and hundreds of thousands learn that their loves ones are suddenly gone. That is comparable to the population of a small city being swept away every day, leaving families and friends devastated in the wake..." (page 1).
If you are looking for a deep reflection on the question of pain and suffering from a distinctly Christian perspective, this book is highly recommended. Keller is not a "name it and claim it" preacher. Rather, he is a deeply compassion pastor with a heart for God and God's people. This work is immersed in Scripture, prayer, study, and reflection. It is written in lay man's prose so most people can easily handle it. It has been a blessing to me.
I have had a love-hate relationship with poetry since I was first introduced to the genre in Mrs. Pat Aegerter's sixth grade class at Central Elementary School in Hannibal, Missouri. Mrs. Aegerter had us memorize Henry Van Dyke's America For Me as homework, which I loved. This new found love for verse followed me through junior high and high school and remained with me until my college years at Western Illinois University (Go Leathernecks!).
It was at WIU, in literature classes, that the professors began to press their political agendas into the poetry--even choosing poems that to me didn't say anything worthwhile, yet claiming they were fantastic works of prose. Crazy lefty-literature professors (and their political agenda!) drove me away from a budding love of poetry for many years. [DISCLAIMER: Dr. John Hallwas, Professor of American Literature at WIU was the sole teacher who actually grew my love of this medium. His was the sole, lonely voice in a dark plain of activism that embraced the author for who their were--not what we desired for them to be and say.]
It was not until I began reading Eugene Peterson in seminary that I rediscovered an appreciation for the great poets. Peterson pointed me to Gerard Manley Hopkins. I found Billy Collins on my own, completely by chance, and an old memory of seventh grade English class, studying "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost that brought me back to this American Titan. It has been stated that in his poetry, "Robert Frost made plainspoken men and women eloquent philosophers of the human condition." If you have an interest in "earthy" poetry and prose, I encourage you to read some Frost.
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