Bookstore Confession
I bought a book, then 5 minutes later found an identical cheaper one online using my smartphone, so I returned it. Was this wrong?
I recently found myself at Barnes and Noble with quite the conundrum. The parking lot was crazy busy. The Nook booths up front were heaving with rabid present-seekers. The coffee shop bustled with students cramming for finals.
I was there, however, for a reading by an author friend of mine. The reading area was, well, quieter. I can say I wasn’t the only audience member since the poet’s mom came too.
After the reading—which was great—I perused the stacks as I considered the wisdom of making a purchase for myself so close to Christmas. But, with great speed, books destroy my powers to delay gratification, so before long I had two in my hands. Thanks to a herculean effort I narrowed it down to one by Neil Gaiman, but I wasn’t certain about it.
So, I brought out my iPhone. No, I didn’t scan the bar-code quite yet, I simply Googled the title, Anansi Boys. After a few flicks, I learned the book was the story of a character from a Gaiman’s previous novel, American Gods. So, I went to find American Gods on the shelf.
They had one edition. Hard cover. $26.99. Tenth Anniversary Author’s Preferred Text Edition. I swithered, but then walked it calmly to the register. A minute later, I had purchased the book for $29.01.
As I sat in the car warming up — this is Fargo, remember — I felt deep regret. $30 is our household’s monthly book allowance (not including school books). I just blew it in one fell swoop. I did really want to read American Gods, but it was mostly an impulse buy. So, on another impulse, I whipped out my phone and brought up the Amazon app. I scanned my just-purchased book’s barcode, and its Amazon page popped up in two seconds.
Amazon price: $17.60. No sales tax. I have a student Amazon Prime account, meaning I have free two-day shipping on most purchases. I bought it one tap. One tap. Then I opened the car door, walked back in to Barnes and Noble, stood in line, returned the $29.01 copy, and drove away with more money in my pocket and a very confused conscience.
Novelist Richard Russo recently published a NY Times Op-Ed piece lambasting Amazon‘s smartphone apps.
Then, Slate’s Farhad Manjoo responded to Russo quite wisely it seems to me, complicating matters entirely.
Loyal readers will know I’m a sucker for small independently-owned book stores. I miss living in bigger areas like Decatur boasting places like Little Shop of Stories with it’s wonderfully curated collection, friendly staff, smart book groups, and glorious story times. (And, get this: Neil Gaiman has visited Little Shop.)
Often, in Fargo, I buy used books from Red Raven, and I’ve purchased several from Zambroz. I try to buy work books through The Thoughtful Christian.com, usually at great discount, but certainly not with two-day shipping. But I do buy a lot of books via Amazon. Most, even. And I’m still wrestling with my Barnes and Noble return.
So, dear Internet, I confess it. But, to be honest, I’m not sure whether I have sinned or not. If so, my penance will be donate the $11.41 difference to a good cause. But, maybe, I was just a savvy shopper with a smartphone and the good sense to take advantage of my student free two-day shipping when I can.
Am I an Amazon app sinner destroying my local economy, or a smart shopper saving $11.41 I can now spend locally?
Discuss.
Beyond Mashed Potatoes: Giving Thanks Together
This week at Theology Pub we discussed Thanksgiving from various angles. I found it an interesting topic because giving thanks — and gratitude in general — is certainly not unique to people of faith. Apparently, the religious origins of the first Thanksgiving(s) are debatable, but in later years Thanksgiving certainly took a more religious tint. Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation calling for Thanksgiving to be celebrated by all states on the same day (as opposed to previous practice) is filled with religious overtones.
I’m struck that giving thanks, as a concept, is perfectly well and good (it’s what our mother taught us, after all) but complications come with the follow-up questions, the second part of the sentence, the: so what?
Giving thanks….to whom?
Giving thanks…for what?
Giving thanks…by oneself or together?
Giving thanks…our of obligation, or out of true gratitude?
Shirley Guthrie’s Christian Doctrine is the most accessible and thorough introduction to Reformed Theology that I know. I go back to it often. Like the other theology texts I consulted in preparation for Theology Pub, neither “thanksgiving” nor “gratitude” is in Guthrie’s index. I did, however, find this glorious passage that’s stopped me short this Thanksgiving week:
Everything we have said about satisfying our creaturely necessities and enjoying creaturely pleasures is true only to the extent that we remember that God is not only our Creator but the Creator of all human beings, and that God’s good gifts are given not just to us and our kind of people but to all people. To deny these gifts (necessities and pleasures) to any person or group, or to support any political or economic system that does so, is rebellion against the Creator who said that the physical-bodily life of every human being is good. Christian Doctrine, Shirley Guthrie, p. 160
Thanksgiving, after all, is an act. It’s action, but in our normal cultural parlance it seems as if it’s all about stopping, looking back, reflecting with our kin. At Thanksgiving, many of us end up asking that question, “What am I thankful for?” But Guthrie seems to want to broaden our thinking from “I” to “we.”
What if Thanksgiving is not about what God gives me, but about God’s gifts to all the world, now and forever? Thinking of Thanksgiving in this corporate manner then pushes us further to consider Thanksgiving as action, as call to discipleship. It becomes more than about feeding the homeless turkey and mashed potatoes on Thursday, but about making sure all my brothers and sisters — all those whom God created and loves — have equal opportunities to enjoy God’s gifts. Or, further even, we follow our call beyond making “opportunities available” for all to perhaps enjoy God’s gifts, and instead we don’t stop until all are resting in the promises of God, not just possibly doing so, but actually doing so.
For me, the Advent season always takes on a wonderful sense of justice-seeking. As I prepare for Christ’s birth, I’m reminded every year that our world looks all too un-Christlike. This year, however, I’m getting that feeling a little early through the more secular Thanksgiving holiday. For that, I’m grateful; to that, I hope to respond.
image by bromundt
Review: Metaxas’ “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy”
I read many books, but seldom biography. Perhaps that’s due to negative experiences with book report assignments growing up. Who knows? Upon a social media acquaintance’s recommendation, however, I picked up a Kindle copy of Eric Metaxas’ biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. Quickly, I found myself looking forward to evenings in which I could read the thick biography. It’s an absolute triumph of a book.
Many aspects of Bonhoeffer’s remarkable life compelled me. First and foremost, I enjoyed learning about the man whose theology I had only really encountered in snapshots — quotes from Cost of Discipleship, snippets of his Advent and Christmas sermons, prayers, etc. I had a taste of Bonhoeffer’s strong words and generous spirit, but not the context in which to view them. For example, though I constructed an Advent worship service last year around Bonhoeffer’s Advent/Christmas sermons, I didn’t understand that they were written during the Nazi party buildup in Germany, while Bonhoeffer was already plotting with the opposition and organizing the Confessing Church.
Second, I was very intrigued with the window into the holocaust that Metaxas’ gives the reader. I have studied a bit of the history of WWII, but mainly from American perspectives. Certainly I’ve run into many moral components of the holocaust in philosophy, ethics, and religion courses, but it is so difficult to get the full context of what was happening in Germany at the time. Bonhoeffer allows a window into the slow rise of Hitler and the Nazi party that I didn’t previously know much about.
Finally, Bonhoeffer the man is wonderful to read about because he is so damn well-rounded and, well, extraordinary. A skillful pianist, poet, theologian (but even better pastor), preacher, philosopher, historian, son of a brilliant scientist, speaker of many languages, singer, humorist, family man, prophetic Christian, and more, the sheer breadth and depth of Bonhoeffer’s knowledge and skill astounds me. I’m left wondering: do we simply not make women and men that way any more, or was Bonhoeffer truly set apart?
I wholeheartedly recommend Bonhoeffer. At 624 pages, it takes a bit to read, but I always found myself looking forward to picking it up again. (Oh, and by the way, I think Bonhoeffer, were he living today, would definitely be a prodigious blogger. He was constantly writing to hundreds of friends, family members, and colleagues, both individually and in circular letters.)
I’ll close with a quote from the pastor himself:
There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God’s commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross.
Metaxas, Eric; Timothy J. Keller (2010-04-20). Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (p. 241). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Review: “The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry” by Root & Dean
I’ve never been a youth ministry sort of guy. When I was looking for a call out of seminary, oftentimes folks would assume that since I was in my 20s I’d be going into youth ministry. They did not know me. Don’t get me wrong: I love youth and youth ministry, but it is not my primary calling. And, believe me, youth out there, it really is “me, not you.”
That said, when I heard Andrew Root and Kenda Creasy Dean had come out with a book on theology and youth ministry, I was most interested, for these fine professors know that youth ministry is not some subset of “real ministry,” but true tough theological work. Their book, The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry shows just that.
The work is in two parts, the first on “Theological Starting Points” and the second on “Theology Enacted.” Root and Dean go to great lengths to claim their work as a theological task, and boy did they convince me. Root writes,
“If youth ministry is to have a future that avoids these deadly traps of self-justification and isolation, it must move boldly into deep theological construction. What I mean is that we must begin to see ourselves not primarily as youth ministry directors but as theologians who do constructive theology in the context of ministry with the adolescent population.”
This book is perfect for that Senior Pastor who scoffs at youth activities as simply games and lock-ins; this book is perfect for youth directors who know their work is deeper and richer than it’s perceived, but are searching for the theological means to describe it.
That said, perhaps the book’s main flaw is somehow inherent to its purpose: in so proving the theological richness of youth ministry, the book’s sheer complexity would make it a very challenging read for the average youth ministry volunteer. Thankfully, helpful discussion questions conclude each chapter, but the work stands so far above the fluff some expect of youth ministry that for these folks, Theological Turn will be a bit of a shock.
From its opening pages to its close, Theological Turn does good very well to ground youth ministry as it should. Also compelling, however, is the constant reminder that, as is put in the Introduction, “young people are not bored by theology. They are bored by theology that doesn’t matter.” Those who read Theological Turn will get a wonderful reminder of why theology matters in the first place.
A Monday Smattering
- Google+, I have no use for you. Though you offer a few benefits over Facebook, the downside — that nobody really uses Google+ — far outweighs the slick interface and social circles.
- Begrudgingly, I am becoming a NFL fan — or a Minnesota Vikings fan, to be precise. Growing up in Tallahassee, the home of the Florida State Seminoles, I had no need for pro football. Few of my friends even had a favorite team. So it’s only appropriate that my Viking fandom has slowly begun as Christian Ponder, a FSU alum, starts as Minnesota’s quarterback.
- Speaking of Minnesota, the fact that Carhartt is now hip cracks me up. Farmers don’t need a fancy “Work in Progress” brand name to know it’s quality product.
- On another regional note, I recently bought a snowblower. Did I say, “sometimes I miss Florida”?
- Review to come later, but I am very much enjoying Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas.
Three Good Books
A few weeks ago I enjoyed a lovely vacation and some solid reading time. Here’s what I read and totally recommend to you.
Room by Emma Donoghue is a page turner like none other I’ve come across in the past year or two. It doesn’t sound like it, for the story is of a child Jack, as he’s raised by his young loving mom in one room. The 11 x 11 room serves as a prison for them, but is also space of amazing creativity, immense feelings, and even beauty. Trapped due to an evil kidnapper, Jack narrates brilliantly as he comes to understand his childhood is unlike any other. It’s intense and affecting, and worth the read for sure.
Burning Bright: Stories by Ron Rash is a wonderful collection of short stories. I came across Rash after reading Serena, and have since enjoyed several of his books. I think of him as sort of an Appalachian Joyce Carol Oates which means the stories are well told, regional, rich, and often utterly depressing.
Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is, I suppose, a historical novel but I don’t usually like historical novels and I loved this book, so I want to call it something different: darn good. The books tells the story of two men with dramatically different dreams: Daniel Burnham, the architect behind the near-miraculous construction of the 1898 Chicago World’s Fair, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer responsible for perhaps 200 murders in Chicago around the same time. It’s a gripping tale of pre-automobile Chicago, America, and humanity at its best and worst.
Review & Contest: “What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian?”
With the help of the publisher, I’m running a giveaway for a copy of this book. Make any comment on this post, and I’ll enter you into a contest to win a free copy! Randomly drawn on July 6th.
I work with 20-30 somethings who are not connected to a faith community. Many books published by denominational publishing houses are, well, nice for me to read but not particularly applicable to my work as a mission developer. Martin Thielen’s new book, however, is spot-on for those interested in the Christian faith but skeptical of its tenets.
In “What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian: A Guide to What Matters Most,” Thielen uses a conversational style to walk a seeker through what matters — and what doesn’t. More a Christian appetizer than a main course, Thielen employs the sensitivity and seasoned story-telling of an experienced pastor.
The book is in two parts. Part one is “Ten Things Christians Don’t Need to Believe.” Topics Thielen includes tend to be extremes held by conservative Christians such as beliefs in a literal six-day creation story, that women cannot be preachers, and a “rapture” view of the end of the world. Part two is the flip-side, “Ten Things Christians Do Need to Believe.” Thielen uses the person of Jesus to organize this section as each chapter begins with Jesus — Jesus’ Identity, Jesus’ Grace, Jesus’ Example, Jesus’ Death, etc.
As a pastor in the PC(USA), I found the book both approachable and perfectly congruent with my theology. Thielen dabbled in more conservative circles early in his career but is now Senior Pastor of Lebanon First United Methodist Church in Tennessee. The book would be appropriate for all mainline protestant denominations.
In the opening pages, Thielen tells the story of how over many months he mentored an atheist, who later turned agnostic, and after many meetings with Thielen, eventually professed faith in Christ. I took the book to be sort of a companion piece to such conversations with folks who are both skeptical of and curious about Christianity. As that, I think the book works quite well.
It left me lacking in some senses, however. First, I grew tired of Thielen’s use of stories to illustrate his points. After a few chapters I felt overcome with cute almost kitschy illustrations and wanting more meat, more willingness to take-on the historical and theological aspects of each chapter. Second, I know it’s difficult to address (especially considering Thielen’s intended audience may be completely unchurched) but I felt like the reliance of movie references and other people’s illustrative stories overshadowed some core theological claims of Christianity like, the Bible is the word of God, what is a creed, and that we are called to respond to God’s love. It’s hard to explain, but when reading, several times I felt more gooey than educated or convicted. I’m not the intended audience, however, so read on.
WJK Books has a handy study guide and suggested 7-week course to help congregations to enjoy the book together. It’s difficult to find a book that would work for an entire congregation to read and study together, so Thielen does well to fit the bill. As studies have shown, mainline Christians these days are increasingly Biblically illiterate and what once were flash points of the faith are becoming mere footnotes to feel good religion. What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian might serve for some as a helpful starting point for theological conversation. For more details and to buy a copy, check out it’s WJK page by clicking here.
Update: Congratulations to Rev. Burton Cantrell, the randomly chosen winner of the free copy! It’s going out in the mail this week. Thanks to all who commented and read the blog (even when there’s no contest).
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