When I read for fun I don’t usually read in the conventional way. By which I mean that I don’t start a book, read it, finish it, and start a new book. I usually have 3-6 books in a rotation that I am actively reading, devoting time to each according to the level of interest that it sparks in me at any given time. By coincidence I’ve finished three books within the last week or so and thought I’d share some thoughts on them. They are: 1) The Human Stain by Philip Roth, 2) Making All Things New by Henri Nouwen, and 3) Jesus by Marcus Borg. I enjoyed each of them a great deal, and for very different reasons.
The Human Stain is the first book by Philip Roth I’ve read, and it's one of the better novels I've stumbled upon in recent years. When Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller died I realized that I needed to find some American authors I could get into who still have a book or two left in them, so I started reading Cormac McCarthy and now I’ve given Philip Roth a shot as well. The first thing I noticed about the book is that certain portions feel a little dated since he extensively references the then-current Clinton-Lewinsky scandal (the book was published in 2000). Once the narrative kicks in, however, I found it rich and compelling. His ability to transition between his vivid characters and his skilled use of irony and symbolism have me interested in more. I think I’ll try American Pastoral (apparently his magnum opus) and The Plot Against America, a more recent offering, next.
An aside: Roth's extended discussions of Clinton’s moral failings did make me realize that the America of my youth was, in fact, a more innocent America. Oh, for the days when a philandering president was front page news for weeks and months on end. Now we take for granted that we have Senators who solicit anonymous homosexual sex in public restrooms, Governors who frequent call girls, and Congressmen who try to lure highschool-aged aides into sexual relationships. It’s almost like we’re becoming England or something. It also made me long for the days when we had a president whose greatest fault was a predilection toward infidelity. Sigh. But enough of that.
I’ll be the first to admit that Henri Nouwen doesn’t do for me what he apparently does for some people. I typically find him to be worthwhile, affirming, and insightful, but I don’t think I’ve ever found him utterly profound and life-altering. That being said, Making All Things New is the fourth book I’ve read by him, and it’s probably my favorite. It’s a remarkably small book, but it’s not minor in scope or ambition. He attempts to demonstrate the importance of spirituality to the modern world and describes ways to develop one’s spiritual side in that context. The first chapter is the best description of the “modern condition” by a Christian author that I’ve ever found. I appreciated the second chapter a little less. It was a relatively minor point, but in the introduction Nouwen implies that the Kingdom of God should best be interpreted spiritually – which is not a bad tactic if one happens to find oneself writing on spirituality. The only problem is that the overspiritualization of Jesus’ teachings is the single greatest heresy of the American Evangelical movement. If you ask me. Unfortunately no one ever does. The third chapter rebounded nicely, though. And then the book was over. I think a committed and undistracted reader (not usually the way I choose to do things) could crank it out in about an hour.
Finally, Jesus (by Marcus Borg) distills a career’s worth of Jesus knowledge into about 300 pages. The book started a little slowly with Borg laying a few chapters of groundwork that I've heard from him elsewhere (mainly in his half of Two Visions of Jesus) but the second half of the book was compelling and insightful. His book doesn't quite have the ambition of God and Empire by John Dominic Crossan, but ultimately he succeeds admirably in summarizing his position in the historical Jesus debate and then goes on to advocate a bit for the emergent church movement. I find his perspective to be rather persuasive (while maintiaining a few doubts about some secondary points) and quite helpful in thinking about the Bible and how to apply it to our contemporary context. In short, his book helped me to appreciate Jesus a little more.
