Review: Trinitarian Dogmatics: Exploring the Grammar of the Christian Doctrine of God

Trinitarian Dogmatics: Exploring the Grammar of the Christian Doctrine of God by D Glenn Jr Butner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As part of my formation as a Deacon, I have been reading a lot of text on Christology and the Trinity; and for most of them I finish more confused about the concept then when I started. A major contributor to this is the tendency of the authors you use uncommon terminology (from metaphysics and philosophy) as well as using common terms with the primary understanding/attributes redefined and/or stripped away entirely (eg. persons, begotten, processions, et al). By itself, that would not be as much of a problem if they 1) better defined with concepts with specific examples and 2) didn’t over use the term with slightly different nuances each time. This book appears to fix these short comings (at least for me), presenting and defending the dogmatic theology of the Trinity that would be easily understood by the average joe sitting in the pew (aka me). Welcome to my favorites bookshelf (I intend to come back to this book a lot in the future).

The book is organized into an Introduction with eight (8) chapters and a glossary (something most books mysteriously failed to include). Each chapter roughly follows the same format … an introduction to the chapter topic, a look at the relevant scriptures, a summary of the [development of the ]tradition and history, an examination of the dogma and finally a section details recommended “Further Reading.” Each chapter was written with very accessible language and the metaphysic terms were introduced slowly (in comparison to other texts) after being well explained and illustrated with examples (the entire first chapter is dedicated to just one term: consubstantiation). If you are even confused about a term when it appears again, you can flip back to the Glossary to refresh your recollection. Honestly, this book should get 5* just for organization and presentation.

Throughout the book, the author reminds us that human language and reason are insufficient to truly understand the nature of God, so that it is necessary to approach what limited understanding we do have from several directions … starting with what has been revealed and using reason to discover what is (cataphatic) and is not (apophatic) true. What is especially helpful here is that the author walks you through the reasoning of past [and present] theologians, pointing out the strengths (what they we trying to explain) and weaknesses (where they go to far) of each before introducing the [more balanced] dogmatic view. Why was this helpful? Because in reading previous books and the subject, I found myself drifting into the same discourse without the benefit of correction or explanation on why that would not work as I understand it. In the end, this is still a difficult and confusing topic that I will continue to exploring and refine, but this book is coming with me on the journey.

Introduction
Chapter 1: Consubstantiality
Chapter 2: Processions and Personal Properties
Chapter 3: Simplicity
Chapter 4: Persons and Relations
Chapter 5: Perichoresis
Chapter 6: Missions
Chapter 7: Inseparable Operations
Chapter 8: Communion
Glossary

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

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Review: The Shadow of the Gods

The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The absolute best part of this story was the world building for me. It borrowed heavily from old Norse culture, of which I am a huge fan and have a passing familiarity of the terms and concepts. Unfortunately the author doesn't really provide much help with context to figure that out and the heavy usage of such may leave some folks a little lost on what is going on. I was completely impressed with the level of realism inserted into the descriptions and action scenes which made them easy to by into.

The story is told from three (3) points of view ... Orka, Varg and Elvar ... and they give a reasonable representation of the stratified social structure within the world; however, I didn't really connect well to any of them much despite being well developed for the genre ... if pushed I would say that Orka was my favorite and I that was starting to warm up to Varg by the end. Elva didn't add much to the story for me other than a convenient place to provide what limited explanation and context to some of the world building.

I am not a fan of alternating POV for each chapter, especially in the beginning and most especially when said chapters are very short. This made it difficult for me to get into the story early on; it took me almost a week to get through the first 25% and a day to finish from there). I think it was have been much better to have made the beginning chapters longer and/or stayed with one POV longer (at least until you get past the mid point of the story). This is even more true when you build a world that will not be as familiar to your readers (i.e. not based on anglo-german medieval history) with a lot of foreign terms ... I like those things and it still took me a bit to get oriented in each chapter just in time change the POV ... that was frustrating.

All of that is relatively minor though ... the big problem that I had with the story is that the POV don't really converge and even more of an issue ... there is NO conflict resolution by the time the story just ends. This is not just a cliffhanger ... the story just stops ... and that was HUGELY frustrating and nearly enough to put me off of anything else written by this author. This is basic craft right? You can have several plot conflicts within a story, but the story doesn't ended until you resolve at least one of them. For this reason alone I just can't give it more than a 3 out of 5.

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

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Review: Engines of Empire

Engines of Empire by Richard S. Ford
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Back-Cover Blurb was the best part of the book; not that the book was bad … in fact, it was actually a fairly average read, I was just expecting better.  The pieces are all there with the standard fantasy tropes.  A powerful empire with equally powerful enemies.  Political intrigue between the cast of noble houses (which are called Guilds for some reason I can’t quite figure out except for the royal grant of monopoly on some aspect of industry).  Noble scions struggling to find their place in a world of plots and betrayals.  Magical machines and witches in abundance … but the way they are put together seemed so awkward to me that I continually found myself knocked out the story by strange word choices that didn’t seem to fit the context (its a preview draft, I was was expecting some odd wording).  Perhaps this was just a cultural mismatch; however, as something of a logophile, I usually enjoy a good play on words and this just seemed like the author had a large thesaurus where words were stretched a little too far to be natural in the story.  Add to that a large number of made up words thrown in without enough of the expected context (or explanatory text) for me to easily figure them out and it makes for a tough slog. 

Examples of some of the silly story telling … 

“Conall had been seconded to Agavere on the northern coast of the Karna Frontier.”  This is where my own experience is a problem.  To me you are posted to a location and seconded to a command structure.  That is not what is happened here and it caused me some confusion when I encountered this.

“Tyreta entered the building, hit immediately by the stink of oil and burning metal.” … the problem I have here is that burning metal makes it virtually useless … so why do it (assuming he is not referring to burning slag in a foundry)?  Adding to that is the difficulty in getting the necessary oxygenation level in iron/steel that is thicker than steel wool, and the word choice here becomes problematic instead of just saying burning oil and hot metal.

“She felt no fatigue as she piloted the stormhulk, accelerating to catch up with him, running faster and harder that she had ever run before.” […] “Over the treetops New Flaym was perched on the coast.  It was tiny in the distance, and they had clearly run for miles without her even realizing it.”  The problem … they were in huge, magic fueled, iron robot like Jaegers where they spent the entire time running in a cockpit.  And then you have perched on the coast?  Perched is a strange word choice that also doesn’t seem to fit when you consider the usual definition implies an elevated position.  So it could be perched on the mountains of the coast … but just the coast seems odd to me.

I know this is nit picking … but this happens A LOT and the rest of the story just didn’t make up for it, so there you have it.

There is an initial legend that briefly introduces some of the players and guilds in the story before you actually encounter them (not as helpful as you might think).  Then we get the Prologue that opens with an introduction of what appears to be the Big Bad for the Torwyn Empire?  Or it is simply the past and has no bearing - it is hard to tell.  As teasers go, it was fair to middling.  Then we jump into Part One with the Emissary from Kingdom of Nyrakkis (part of Malador, a perennial enemy of the Empire) that is reaching out for peace and trade … who apparently just hands over terms before sightseeing around the city with one of Emperor’s nephews … by themselves!?  Needless to say, this clumsy setup is how one of the MCs is framed and ends up in enemy hands.  Hidden in here is a very brief reveal about wars fought between “Torwyn and the demon lords of Malador in centuries past” which I assume is the link to the Prologue.

In Part One The Emissary, we have five (5) POV, with most being from the same Guild/Family (Hawkspurs):  Tyreta (Heir), Fulren (Youngest), Rosomon (Matriarch), and Conall (Eldest), with Lancelin (Nemesis) towards the end.  Frankly I had a hard time liking, or even identifying, with any of them.  There were some unexpected plot twists that were fun and interesting though, and that helped keep me in the story.  Some of which were very GOT’ish and not particularly appealing.  It is through the adventures of the children that we start to see more of the world building, of which I enjoyed the trip into Maladorian (necromancer bad guys) and Keshan (orcish savages) society the most.  The remaining POV were so many wasted words IMHO … the frontier military life seemed particularly ridiculous and nearly unworkable from a military discipline point of view … and the court intrigue of the other two felt overly simplistic and somewhat predictable. 

In Part Two The Uprising … it doesn’t get much better; in fact it just becomes a disjointed hot mess where the MCs struggle to survive challenges largely of their own making before the story just ends without any significant resolution (aka cliffhanger).  

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

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Review: Let Truth Prevail: An Introduction to European Christian Renewal Movements

Let Truth Prevail: An Introduction to European Christian Renewal Movements by Allen Diles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is, for all intents and purposes, an academic text exploring the beginnings of the restoration/reformation movements in Europe.  There is an indirect tie-in to the Stone-Campbell movement in the United States of which I am a product of; so I found this history an extremely interesting review of how the various schismatic communities developed the various beliefs that they came to hold.  Each chapter introduces a movement and some of the founders and/or main players in the movement evolution.  This usually includes a compare and contrast against the predominant Catholic view as well as other Protestant churches … and it is remarkable how they were nearly all in alignment except for a few specific disagreements and it was the subsequent persecution that forced some of the major changes/conflicts.  The author then sums up the chapter in a Legacy section that talks about where they went from there and closes with “Questions for Thought or Discussion” and a ton of reference notes.  While some of the list of names and dates typical of a history text can be tough slogging, the terms and language used were clear and easily accessible/understood.

Introduction: The Concept of Restoration 

Chapter 1: Setting the Stage: The Medieval Church and the Need for Reformation “in Head and in Members” 

Chapter 2: “To Obey God Rather than Men”: The Waldensians 

Chapter 3: “Truth Prevails over All”: The Czech Reformation Part 1 

Chapter 4: “Jesus Christ, the Best Lawgiver”: The Czech Reformation Part 2 

Chapter 5: “Faith, Love, and Hope”: The Unity of the Brethren (Unitas Fratrum) 

Chapter 6: “For the Greater Glory of God”: The Protestant and Catholic Reformations of the Sixteenth Century 

Chapter 7: “Given, Surrendered, and Sacrificed Wholly to God”: Evangelical Anabaptists Part 1 

Chapter 8: “Overthrowing Religion and Civil Order”: Evangelical Anabaptists Part 2 

Chapter 9: “A Personal Religion of the Heart”: Pietism, Schwarzenau Brethren, and the Moravian Brethren 

Chapter 10: “No Such Thing as a National Church”: Scottish Restorationists 

Afterword: “Yet More Truth to Break Forth from His Holy Word”

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

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Review: The Meaning of Myth: With 12 Greek Myths Retold and Interpreted by a Psychiatrist

The Meaning of Myth: With 12 Greek Myths Retold and Interpreted by a Psychiatrist by Neel Burton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Meaning of Myth

I have always been fascinated with deconstructing myths, with most of my interest trying to unlock the context and intent of the story. I got my start in this endeavor through the Comparative Mythology efforts of Dr. Joseph Campbell and this has a very similar feel to it. The Meaning of Myth fits well into this interest with the first part explaining some of the nominal differences between myth, legend, fable, parable, et al. and I learned a fair bit from that. It also covers some of the why we create myth and how they fit into human psychology. IN that regard, it was very similar to another excellent book that focused on the psychological impact of certain literary devices: Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature and I would highly recommend reading both together if you can..

The second half was where Dr. Burton attempts to provide specific details on some of the more well known Greek Myths … unfortunately I found this section to be more hit or miss for me; some of the myths were not really that specific (more general), which is fine, but it seemed to give the whole work more of a disorganized feel than I was expecting … and also seemed to have not gone into as much detail as I was expecting (or it was not clear/obvious to me). I probably was expecting too much on the human psyche explanations … over all it is a short book and still worth a read. I would probably give it 3.5* over all; however, I am rounding up based on subject matter AND availability on Kindle Unlimited.

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

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Review: The Harvested

The Harvested by Kindra Sowder
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Narration: Okay if a bit overly dramatic. The cadence and intonation frequently at odds with what I felt should have been the emotion context of the text. The cast of voices was actually pretty good, if only there were more dialogue.

So many useless words ...
Mutant is discovered by the government and becomes a victim of an expected forced rendition to a secret lab where they conduct experiments while said prisoners plot their inevitable revenge ... now add details to make it interesting ... except that doesn't happen here.

What we get instead is an entire chapter on how to cook and eat green beans? This type of detail is not good world building and does not advance the main plot. Just as aggravating is the perpetual perseveration on the same dramatic element for pages of internal soliloquy (oh the drama of it all). Stir in some ridiculous science and I was nearly screaming at the speaker about how that is not how any of this works (hint: when atoms split really bad things happen ... except in this story where you just bleed a little bit). I kept hoping the story would pick up, but except for a few rare parts, it never really did.

Then we get to the main character ... I can tolerate a fair amount of youthful angst, but Mila hit my limit pretty quickly. The constant introspection was driving me bat crazy with how if took forever to resolve ... only to circle back to it later and do it again. I really do have a low threshold for drama (so if that is your thing, feel free to consider my rating 1 star higher). I just could not connect to any of the characters at all. By the time we get to the point where MC is revealed to be truly monstrous, any sympathy I may have had for that character completely evaporated. She was forced to make a choice ... she chose poorly. In the end, I did not really see much in the way of character growth before we get the pseudo cliffhanger ending (no real resolution yet) and a detailed setup/info-dump for the next book.

This title is also currently available on Kindle Unlimited ...
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: The Good Life Method: Reasoning Through the Big Questions of Happiness, Faith, and Meaning

The Good Life Method: Reasoning Through the Big Questions of Happiness, Faith, and Meaning by Meghan Sullivan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An interesting review of virtue ethics from two (2) philosophy professors at Notre Dame.  While the primary alternative used was utilitarian ethics, or consequentialism, there is a very brief mention of deontological ethics as well.   And so we get a very good introduction to the likes of Plato and Aristotle, Socrates and Seneca, Aquinas and Kierkegaard with brief comparisons to stoicism and epicureanism.  What we don’t get is specific answers … and the authors explain why that is toward the end of the book …

“Many a cult has used philosophical language and frameworks to direct people on pseudo-spiritual journeys of self-discovery. These inevitably end poorly for everyone involved. If a philosopher promises to give you the good life, you should go skeptical.” 

With all of that, the authors present the material in a way to guide the reader to discover which questions they should answer and how to think about them (with a decided Catholic PoV).  Each of the chapters focuses on a specific element of “The Good Life,” beginning with how you might define what that is.  Woven into that are fairly long “personal apologies” that helped tie in the philosophical concepts presented therein.  At the end of each chapter, they provide a section called Truthcraft/Soulcraft to encourage “Strong Questions”  that help the read put the ideas into practice.  Over all, I found it did an fantastic job of doing exactly what the author’s set out to do … to make me evaluate exactly what I want out of life.

Introduction

I.  The Good Life

1. Desire the Truth

2. Live Generously

3. Take Responsibility

4. Work with Integrity

5. Love Attentively

II.  God and the Good Life

6.  Wonder about God

7.  Take a Leap of Faith

8.  Struggle with Suffering

9.  Contemplate Your Purpose

10. Prepare for Death

Code: The Limited of Philosophy

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

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Review: Ancient Battle Formations

Ancient Battle Formations by Justin Swanton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being a war gamer and casual student of strategy and tactics, I was really looking forward to reading this book. The first half of the book dives into the phalanx formations with a significant amount of historical exegesis combined with a fair amount of practical examination of the science/rationale behind them. The author inserts numerous references to historical descriptions of how these formations where reported used in famous battles to support his various hypotheses. While I had a good working knowledge of the over-all battle field strategies from this time period, I was a little fuzzy of the how the individual within the formation actually contributed to the battle. This book pretty much covers this in exhausting detail ... I must admit that I did not completely understand why these formations were so consistant before ... however, at times I still found myself skimming the detailed battle descriptions. One new detail that I learned was how the shield design facilitates or impedes a shield push before. Unfortunately we don't get the same detail for the non-Infantry formations (chariots and cavalry), either because the book is already big enough or because we don't have enough information to fully examine or compare various hypotheses.

This book is a solid, if somewhat narrow, reference book and highly recommended for anyone interested in historical warfare.

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

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Review: Blood of a Fallen God

Blood of a Fallen God by Joshua C. Cook
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Overall: ****
Performance: *****
Story: ****

This was one of the best performances that I have heard in an audiobook. I had NO trouble seperating the characters (a common complaint that usually knocks off 1 star) and I actually enjoyed the tone and pacing.

Now for the story ... this is pretty much a standard fantasy trope execute well. The world building was solid and revealed through character interactions or dialog (I didn't notice any info dumps, so I must assume they were appropriate when they exist). Main characters were well developed and fairly independent of each other with the expected growth for the main protagonist. The story ended well (yes, I am a sucker for good endings) and wrapped upon most of the major plot conflicts in this book, so it can easily stand alone (with the epilogue introducing a possible sequel); that was also well done and is another common complaint I have with current fantasy stories. I highly recommend this story and I am looking forward to the sequel!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Eve, Where Are You?: Confronting Toxic Practices Against the Advancement of Women

Eve, Where Are You?: Confronting Toxic Practices Against the Advancement of Women by Nicole L. Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had an opportunity to read this book after reviewing another book on a similar topic: Women in the Bible: Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church

In Part I, we find four (4) chapters that introduce “The Conflict” between women called to serve and the established patriarchy that frequently impedes that call. In chapter 2 the author looks at “The Struggle Between What I’m Competent to Do and What I’m Allowed to Do” before moving on the more traditional conflicts of men vs women and women vs women that I though were both interesting and insightful without being overly judgmental. Part 2, “The Explanation” takes on a bit more risk as the author uses psychological model theories to show why there might be so much resistance to change within the church. I enjoyed these four (4) chapters on identity, power, change and mental/psyche as much as the first four (4) and they seem to be solidly rooted in current theory. Up to now, the tone of the book was mostly encouragement/empowerment for women and instructional/explaining for men with something good for everybody. Part 3 may catch some a little off guard as the tone of "The Resolution" is a lot more aggressive and confrontational (especially given the bona fides of the author in conflict resolution). Perhaps that is what is needed if you are targeting people at the top of an organization ... but this part doesn't do much for those in organizations that are heavily hierarchical ... such as the Catholic Church ... and I didn't find much here that I could actually use in the trenches. While I can understand the frustration and impatience, in such organizations, the long game is needed more and that was unfortunately lacking here (I am talking generations in this case). Still, this is an important voice for understanding how we as church should evolve.

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

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Review: The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I read this purely on the fact that is was the selection of the month for the club. To be honest, it is not something that I would have picked up myself despite the award of a Pulitzer Prize.

I didn't like it. Sure, I recognized the sparse writing style which lent an artsy feel to the prose (and was probably what earned it the Pulitzer and is why I give it 2 stars instead of 1), but the book was an ordeal from start to finish. It had no purpose what so ever except to make the reader feel like they were in a post-apocalyptic world where hope had been completely extinguished … and it worked. Ultimately that is what doomed the book with me … at the end I sat back and simply asked a very basic question … So? Was there a message? Maybe … life goes on? Egads, even the interminable “and so it goes” from slaughter house five was better then this drekk. What about the relationship between the father and the son? Was it really love, so was it simple a reason to continue? I don’t really know, but I suspect that there really was not as much there as it would seem. The boy’s existence was simply an enabler for the father’s continued existence. Neither character showed any character development over some 287 pages so what really was the point of the story?

I have happily traded this book away on book mooch.com

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Review: Northern Wrath

Northern Wrath by Thilde Kold Holdt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an epic norse tragedy with fantastic world building based upon norse mythology and culture that was so well researched it felt as if it could have come straight out of the Eddas (without the feeling English was not the primary langauge of the story teller). Just as important, than author appears to know just how much to change to much the world hers while at the same time keeping it familiar to anyone who has had any exposure to norse culture. Within this walk well developed characters that I can understand and even identify with (including some of the minor villians ... such a Finn. In fact, I was so invested in these characters, I was a caught a little off guard at the end: a few plot points remain open (that I assume with tie into the sequels) and, of course, it is a tragedy ... which considering the style should not have surprised me as much as it did. Thinking back on the story, I had the same reaction to the "Eaters of the Dead" by Michael Crichton ... and so they author joins a somewhat exclusive club as having provided me with one of my favorite stories. Highly recommended - looking forward to the next story.

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Review: The Translation of the Seventy: History, Reception, and Contemporary Use of the Septuagint

The Translation of the Seventy: History, Reception, and Contemporary Use of the Septuagint by Edmon L. Gallagher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a scholastic text that primarily appeals to readers with at least a passing interest in early judeo-christian texts, specifically the text known as the Septuagint that became the foundation of the Christian Old Testament in the Early Church. “This book introduces the Septuagint and explores how early Christians made use of it.” What may be surprising to some readers is the evidence supporting the variety/plurality of sacred text and the challenges inherent to translation and transmission across the ages. This was apparently illustrated early in Christian patristic commentaries from Origen, Jerome and Augustine amongst others. What was surprising to me is the evidence that the New Testament makes references to the [expanded] Septuagint (LXX), the Masoretic Text (MT) and other unknown texts and even points to an evolution of sorts where the texts may have influenced each other, depending on the message/tradition the redactor/scribe wished to convey/support. Throughout the book, the author charts a nuanced middle ground, from which I gained a much better understanding of how the Christian Bible developed.

Section I: Starting Points
1: Start: Introducing the LXX
2: Story: What the Ancient Jews Thought about LXX Origins
3: Origins: What Modern Scholars Think about LXX Origins

Section II: Canon and Text in Early Judaism and Earliest Christianity
4: Canon: The Influence of the LXX on the Size of the Bible
5: Text: Textual Pluralism in Ancient Judaism
6: Apostles: The LXX in the New Testament

Section III: The Text of the Septuagint among the Fathers
7: Varietas: Patristic Textual Criticism on the LXX
8: Theory: The Relationships between the LXX and the Hebrew Bible in Early Christian Thought
9: Jerome: The Use and Abuse of the LXX according to Jerome
10: Augustine’s Theory of Two Inspired Biblical Texts

Epilogue: The LXX for Modern Christians
Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture and Ancient Source Index

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