The Digital Renaissance: Review: Collects for Our Cultural Moment

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Review: Collects for Our Cultural Moment

Collects for Our Cultural Moment by Terry Jonathan Stokes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am not sure that I am the intended audience for this book of prayers as there are specific [younger] generational and cultural references that I had trouble understanding. I was looking for something that could enhance my own public ministry, but I had trouble identifying with many of the references to [what I presume are] millennial memes, or specific issues within minority communities where it felt presumptuous for me to even try to appropriate, even as an ally. That said, it is certainly useful in identifying concerns within those communities, even if I felt awkward with the provided language. So too with the idea that you can [and should] bring everything to God, the author was perhaps a bit too literal in execution, even though this is a great idea in theory. This is how you get mundane items like, "For when one clogs the toilet" or "For before third-wheeling" alongside more profound prayers, such as "For a protest" and "For letting go of toxic relationships." Perhaps it is just me, but I don't believe that I would actually use more than a handful of the prayers provided. In addition to the topics that I mostly likely won't encounter at this stage in my life, the mix of formal thee, thy and thou ... with more current "hip" language, just didn't seem to work that well. Fortunately, the author does include a basic [6 step] formula to enable you to create prayers more relevant to your own specific situation and/or communities and it is pretty good.

I: Friendship

II: Singleness and Romance

III: Family and Home.

IV: The Self

V: Community and Society

VI: Work and Vocation

VII: Recreation

VIII: Music

IX: Church Life

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#PrayersforthePeople #NetGalley.

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My Ratings Explained ...

[ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
[ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
[ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
[ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
[ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.