Alec Bussen

Five Stars, but I'm wary...

Revisado: 07-28-22

"Jesus and John Wayne" is a historical narrative tracing a particular thought genre within American evangelicalism. The work is all the more poignant as the author (a teacher at Calvin College the last I checked) offers her historical exposē as an insider. Considerate and thoughtful readers will benefit from this audiobook.

From Teddy Roosevelt to Donald Trump, Kobes du Mez traces the intersection of politics, evangelicalism, and a particular kind of masculinity (which many call "toxic masculinity"). She effectively demonstrates that a view of an apparently violent kind of masculinity has been a major political/theological motivator for predominantly white American evangelicals. Listening to her work has proven to me that the most influential evangelical voices over the past century have gained their influence (at least in part) by advocating for a particular kind male and militaristic dominance within households and in international policy.

With that stated, I am wary of Kobes du Mez's apparent bias. I read her as a Christian feminist writer who reading history through the lens of feminist theory. I do not yet know feminist theory well (though it is on my to do list) and that lack of knowledge combined with the fact that the author does not explicitly state her theoretical lens/biases makes evaluating her work difficult. Her work is heavily connotated and without footnotes I do not know how check her claims. For this reason I would suggest that a serious reader buy a paperback or digital copy.

Also, as a last note, I remember reading some reviews stating they did not like the narrator's voice. In retrospect, I find that weird because I think the narrator did an excellent job and I tracked well with her reading.

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Helpful, But Also Seems Mixed Up

Revisado: 02-20-22

Essentially, this is a book about mindfulness as a way of helping porn addiction. In that vein it is helpful, but other works, especially those on Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, are more helpful and mindfulness methods are not deeply discussed. More often the author pushes for the reader toward a highly postmodern, psychologized, secular form of the faith with undertones of mysticism that, at least from the point of view of what Christians have believed throughout the history of the church (the great tradition), are more often confused than helpful.

I think the one criticism I have of this book (and it is important) is that the thrust of human sexuality throughout the book is almost completely individualistic. There are points where sexuality is connected with God and community, but the predominant emphasis is that sexuality is about a disjunction within a person's own self. This is true. This is also helpful and the therapy (e.g. mindfulness) associated with learning to understand this disjunction is gold. But as the core issue of human sexuality and as a category the author effectively places God this emphasis obscures human identity and God's relationship to the world. In effect, it is the difference between the cosmological view of sexuality people like Rod Dreher talk about (see "The Benedict Option") and a psychologized and individualistic view of sexuality. That last statement is vague and unhelpful, but a look at Dreher's book and his footnotes could go a long way to understanding what I mean here.

I wish I could give this book more stars while remaining honest, but I think these faults are significant and one would be better reading books on mindfulness/DBT and learning mysticism from the church fathers and the spiritual traditions of the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Protestants (especially the desert fathers).

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Helpful Practices for Daily Life

Revisado: 11-28-21

"Calming the Emotional Storm" is one of the best books on how to address unbalanced and extreme emotions I have ever read. I come from a family with a borderline mom and grew up learning to be angry as a baseline emotion. This is something I've been to counseling for and have had difficulty learning to control. In a fairly immediate way, Van Dijk helped to address this issue in my life by the practice of "mindfulness" she gives early in the book. The idea is to be present doing one thing with my full attention. She explains that when we bring past experiences and/or future expectations into our present moments we experience the emotions these thoughts bring us into. Combine those unchangeable realities with present distresses and it brings us into a place where we are ripe for responding to everyday troubles in an unbalanced way; for me, lashing out in anger. Focusing on the present, or "being mindful" allows us to experience just the emotions of the present and gives us less stress to deal with at any given time. Combine this with other techniques like constant belly breathing (which makes a huge difference!), acceptance of our emotions, coming to terms with our reality and cognitive behavioral therapy skills like recognizing the differences between thoughts, behaviors and emotions and describing our experiences in accord with these terms and we are given a wide array of coping mechanisms to help us navigate daily life one day at a time. As Jesus says, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Today's emotions are enough, breathe, be present, accept this moment for what it is and choose what life you want to live from a place of wisdom. This seems to be the core of Van Dijk's wisdom and I am thankful to have read her work.

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Rich Spirituality for Church and Mission

Revisado: 10-13-21

Fitch's work here is phenomenal. To put it into a short summary, his practices give the church a way into spiritual depth while remaining fully missional and aware of the love and power already at work in the world we all inhabit. To say the least, Fitch walks a narrow road which avoids a variety of pitfalls evangelicals like myself fall into or inherit.

We evangelicals are often presented with options that make our missionary efforts about methods which promise the result of conversion decisions from unbelievers, but don't change the lives of the church in substantial ways. Or options that prioritize the community of the church, but do not connect our practices as communities with the work of mission (which is inclusive of, but not limited to, the work of witness for the conversion of the unbelieving). Or we fall into the trap of seeing ourselves as a sort of social service agency meant to meet the material needs of communities whether or not the spiritual ones are met (which is a statement I'm sure Fitch would nuance better than I did here).

Fitch successfully avoids all of these by arguing for a vision of church life that aggressively practices the presence of God. Fitch believes that God is a constantly present reality to all people acting for the salvation of all people at all times. God is bringing his kingdom now in the church, but all will eventually experience this reality (whether it is accepted or not). The work of the church, then, is to be present with this reality of God at work in our lives. He suggests we do this by embodying several disciplines that orient us toward God's presence, but each of which is framed in a way that makes them simultaneously spiritually formative for the community of the church and deeply missional. I strongly recommend this book for church leaders struggling with questions of how to integrate church life and mission in a way that deepens both.

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Christian Spirituality at its Finest

Revisado: 03-11-21

After reading and journaling through Cassian's writings for a theology class in seminary, I fell in love with the desert fathers and was glad to find Cassian's Conferences in an audio version. Cassian can be difficult to digest at points, but his writings have SIGNIFICANTLY changed my life over the past year and I strongly recommend them to anyone with a patient ear and desire for closeness with God through Christ.

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Unspeakably Beautiful Life, Average Speaker/Writer

Revisado: 10-03-20

Mother Teresa is a spiritual master in the work of Christ's mercy. Listening to a short biography of her work and a brief introduction to her thought was enlightening and convicting. I appreciate Muggeridge for providing this work for all of us in the modern era.

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History, Poetry, and Allegory At It's Best

Revisado: 09-30-20

Concisely and convincingly, Lewis models how to read the Psalms for Christian spirituality. A must read for anybody interested in Christian spirituality and biblical hermeneutics.

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Excellent, but difficult to track at points

Revisado: 09-15-20

The translation was fantastic and Eusebius is a must read for anybody interested in church history. The book was encouraging and enlightening. The only downside was that the reader didn't differentiate notes or comments by Paul Maier from Eusebius's text itself and it was difficult to track when one started and the other ended. It would have been much better if the reader had said something like "Note" or "comment to the text" or something like that before reading Maier's comments.

Overall I was pleased and the book was great.

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Wonderfully insightful.

Revisado: 01-31-20

Fukuoka's blends philosophy and agricultural practice should cause us to think seriously about our practices.

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Eye opening book

Revisado: 02-08-18

Great book for widening our perspectives on Christianity and biblical interpretation for a more global and historical perspective.

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