Review: “Putting Away Childish Things” by Marcus Borg
I have never read a novel as didactic and self-conscious as Marcus J. Borg’s Putting Away Childish Things (May 2010, HarperOne), but I thoroughly enjoyed the book and whole-heartedly recommend it. I’ve read many of Marcus Borg’s books, as assignments at St. Olaf College and for fun, and admire his work (even if I don’t always agree with him). Putting Away Childish Things is Borg’s first venture into fiction, and he admits in the preface that the work is a “teaching novel.” Also, quite interestingly, he notes that if he were not already an established author, the novel might not have been published. That would have been a shame, though, because many a book group will enjoy discussing Putting Away Childish Things, and many a questioning Christian’s faith will be sustained by the story.
The novel follows Kate Riley, a youngish popular religion professor and a liberal arts college in a small midwestern town. Kate’s career is coming along swimmingly — she’s published two book and a year away from tenure — when Kate faces unexpected challenges from several angles. From one corner, her recent book on Jesus’ birth narratives in the Gospels makes her a punching bag of the religious right. From the other, those in the secular academy feel her work is becoming too popular. As Kate fends off attacks from the religious right and secular left, she receives a surprise letter asking her to apply for a yearlong teaching appointment at an Episcopal seminary. Her inner struggle deepens — should she apply for the position? Would she enjoy teaching in a Christian setting? Where is God calling her? Are her choices motivated by fear or faith?
That’s the story, but the function of the novel is to teach. Through Kate’s lectures and her encounters with students and professors, the reader engages significant questions about the nature of faith, how to read the Bible, the historical Jesus, the morality of homosexuality, and the study and practice of religion. The reader also enjoys a view of Kate’s own faith, her journey to become a liberal Episcopalian, and the challenge of discerning her vocation.
If you’re looking for a natural novel, this is not it. The book feels even more staged than Brian McLaren’s didactic novels in the A New Kind of Christian trilogy. But even so, I enjoyed Borg’s work more. Borg’s character development is richer, and besides a few loose ends (and some pretty awful dialog), the story is plenty believable. So much so, in fact, that one wise professor character sounds remarkably like Borg himself (he’s a fiction writing rookie so we can cut him some slack). And, ok, I loved the positive mention of midwestern Lutheran college choirs — Borg, himself, is a Concordia College grad but I’ve had lunch with him at St. Olaf, so surely he’s seen the light.
Not too many bestselling authors grew up in North Dakota (purely because of the small population, mind you). But Borg did, so when I received my review copy, I was a bit biased towards giving Putting Away Childish Things a favorable review. But, truly, it’s a good read and a helpful one. If I were teaching an introduction to Christianity class or an adult confirmation course, it might be my primary text. The novel won’t win any awards for literature, but it’s not really trying to either. Instead, Borg uses the novel form to do what religion professors do — teach about religion — and I’m glad he accomplishes this task so well.
Citizenship and the merits of dead trees
Maybe I’m becoming an old fuddy-duddy, but in recent weeks I’ve found myself speaking glowingly for the old-fashioned dead tree paper edition of the local newspaper.
No, it’s not that I think the Grand Forks Herald is a particularly stellar paper, anything but that. I do think it’s unfortunate, however, that subscribing to a local newspaper has become anathema to twenty-somethings. So much so, in fact, that I’m finding my usually optimistic perspective challenged by my peers’ reading habits, or lack their of.
To put it in a phrase: I read the local paper to better understand my neighbors. For me, it’s a question of ethics and ideas. And despite the helpful use of Twitter and blogs, in this town of 50,000 there’s no better way to follow local happenings than the newspaper. From letters to the editors to school board meeting reports, from traffic ticket statistics to mosquito spraying schedules, from stories of local movers-and-shakers to those on a small disc golf tournament nearby, the paper informs me of local goings-on and local perspectives in ways unparalleled by other media.
Maybe if I worked at a big office the local gossip I might pick up there would suffice. Or maybe if I listened to North Dakota radio stations or watched the TV news I could live without my paper. Maybe if I lived in a larger news market, I wouldn’t need the newspaper. But as my life is, were I to cancel my subscription I feel confident I would become a poorer citizen and pastor.
For example, earlier in the summer I voted in local elections of which I wouldn’t have known were I not following the candidate profiles and studying the sample ballot in the paper. Similarly, this week’s Forum Communications series, “Running with Oil” on the North Dakota oil boom is fantastically informative on a state issue (out west, mostly) I could easily overlook otherwise.
Let me be clear, I’m not exactly praising the quality of the paper, bless its heart. The website is horrendous, partly making the dead tree edition so superior. The local stories are fine, but certainly often of questionable quality and the coverage beyond local and state issues is paltry. Most editorials are too mainline, non-confrontational, and safe. I’m not praising the Grand Forks Herald for Pulitzer quality work, I’m praising them for a product that gets the job done — informing me of local happenings, keeping local politicians on their toes, shining the light of scrutiny where their resources can manage.
When I was in college at St. Olaf, the student government funded a program that put racks of free newspapers in every dorm and student hangout area — the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal, if my memory serves me. You’d see college students hanging out waiting for friends while reading up on the news. It was a beautiful site. Surely many college students today read their national and international news, like me, online and through internet-based news aggregators. But nothing beats that dead tree at my doorstep each morning, informing me which roads are closed on my morning commute.
image by Kay Pat
Virtual Choir, Real Art, What Next?
Ok, this is pretty darn cool. The YouTube video below is a virtual choir singing Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque. “Wait, what’s a ‘Virtual Choir’?” you ask? Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of it before since, with this piece, Whitacre is breaking new ground.
You have to watch the video to really get it, but here’s what happened as I understand things. Whitacre posted a YouTube video with him talking-through and then conducting the piece, and thousands of singers recorded their individual parts on their computers, responding to Eric’s conducting (more here). Then, Eric (or his helper, actually), spliced the piece together so it looks like the individual singers are arranged as a traditional choir, even though their videos were recorded by themselves in otherwise silent rooms all over the world.
I don’t want to overanalyze, but one could really get going on this. I sang this marvelous piece with the St. Olaf Choir in 2005, and took it on tour to Norway (buy the CD here if you like). I sang in a choir of 75 friends whom I knew well. We held hands when we sang, responding to the conductor feet away from us differently every night as he conducted each concert slightly — or very — differently depending on the space, audience, atmosphere, etc.
This choir had little of that in-person personal touch, but they perhaps had something more as well. Though they will never meet each other and hold hands in a concert, though they will never speak to Whitacre in the flesh, through technology they have shared music together. The video is a melding of voices, spirits, sounds, and offerings and becomes an artistic experience beyond what any of the singers could do alone. Put simply: it sings.
The text of the poem is simple Latin, though it was actually originally written in English and translated into Latin for the choral setting. I’ve always thought of the prologue to John’s gospel when singing it, but that’s maybe just me. Jesus, the Word, as the light of the world has always been an image that really moved me. The piece, as well as any art, moves me to that place where I can meditate on God. I’m grateful Whitacre has taken his art to a new place that helps me ponder all God’s children all around the world, as well.
Remembering Katherine Ann Olson
Katherine Ann Olson’s murderer was sentenced this week to life in prison without parole. Katherine is a fellow St. Olaf College graduate, and the horrific story of her murder last year made national news. Dubbed “the Craigslist murder” Katherine was responding to a Craigslist ad for a nanny when she was murdered in a suburb of Minneapolis.
Katherine’s family discusses the trial and sentencing in a video from the Today Show, but more important if you’re up in Minnesota is a link below to a website for the benefit concert her family and friends have arranged.
The benefit concert, May 3, 2009, 4:00-7:00 pm is at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, MN and features Storyhill, Romantica, Teatro del Pueblo, and Ann Reed. The Olson’s have set up a scholarship fund in Katherine’s name with St. Olaf.
Coming soon to a theater near you…*what?!*
(Yup, I’m the chin on the right.)
Several people have seen advertisements or previews for a strange music concert thing in which I used to take part and have asked for my take on it.
First a few disclaimers:
- I have no business experience beyond a largely unsuccessful lemonade stand.
- I know very little about college alumni boards, networks, or affiliations.
- I rarely attend live concerts, and don’t pay much when I do.
But….did I read this right?
St. Olaf College, my dear alma mater, is pumping their annual Christmas Festival to hundreds of movie theaters around the nation…on live satellite feed…and charging $20 a ticket? What?!
From the site (drum roll please):
And now this year — for the first time ever — the St. Olaf Christmas Festival will be simulcast live via satellite to select movie theatres around the country on Sunday, Dec. 2, at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT from the St. Olaf College campus in Northfield, Minnesota.
I don’t wish ill of anything associated with St. Olaf–it is a top-notch college that offered me a fantastic broad-based education for which I’ll always be grateful–but do the powers-that-be really think enough people going to turn up in Hunstville, AL, Aventura, FL, or King of Prussia, PA to make the live feed cost-effective? (list of venues here. )
It was a privilege and joy to be part of past featured concerts broadcast on PBS, one recorded on an amazing three-week trip to Norway (buy the DVD here. ) But I’ve always suspected that most people unaffiliated with the college watch the PBS broadcast by accident, and certainly wouldn’t pay $20 to drive to the local theater.In the midst of fund-raising campaigns, a new science center being built, and rising tuition costs leading to record-setting student debts, I hope we don’t stand to lose big bucks if the crowds in Huntsville fail to impress. But if the Nordic voices don’t draw the church ladies, maybe we should give a discount on the movie theater popcorn.
More after the break below.
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