Review: God and Morality in Christian Traditions

God and Morality in Christian Traditions by J. Caleb Clanton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a collection of eleven (11) short, academic essays exploring some of the debate about how human morality is determined, with a specific emphasis on the influence of God in a Christian context. “These essays were originally draft in response to a formal call for papers for a specific issue of the journal Religions entitled ‘God, Ethics, and Christian Traditions.’” Each essay was written by a different [group of] author(s) from a variety of backgrounds, so there is a wide variance on readability and understandability for a casual reader (of which I consider myself to be). Most seem to have a particular slant on the source or orientation of [christian] morality: Natural Law Theory (NLT) which sees morality as part of creature that is ordered to the good, Divine Command Theory (DCT) … aka theological volunteerism, which is essentially that we are moral only in so much as we obey God’s law/commandments … and Virtue ethics (VET), which is the idea of morality based upon promoting what leads to human flourishing, with each author identifying the basic concepts and highlighting some of the limitations. 

Each Essay opens with an Abstract that summarizes the topic, followed by a discussion and ending with notes and references. Most are in clear and accessible language … with a few (such as chapter two) being more typical of philosophical text (wordy and obtuse). Certainly some terms could use a clearer definition or concrete example: such as constructivism vs realism, which to the best of my understanding roughly corresponds to relativism and absolutism within a moral framework. Only one essay seemed to depart from academic discourse to engage in a strange diatribe against same sex marriage … where the main point appears to be that allowing the individual the freedom of their own interpretation, abandons the principle of Sola Scriptura because they don’t interpret it the same way as the author? I am sure there is a fallacy or two in there. In truth I believe it shows the critical weakness on anything based upon a DCT concept … How is the command interpreted and who decides on the interpretation ….

Introduction
Essay 1: Catholicism and the Natural Law [****]
Essay 2: God, New Natural Law, and Human Rights [**]
Essay 3: Aquinas and Scotus on the Metaphysical Foundations of Morality [*****]
Essay 4: God’s Will as the Foundation of Morality [****]
Essay 5: Does Darwall’s Morality of Accountability Require Moral Realism? [*****]
Essay 6: John Calvin’s Multiplicity Thesis [***]
Essay 7: Understanding Moral Disagreement [**]
Essay 8: Epistemological Crisis in the Free Church Tradition [*]
Essay 9: Love and Do What You Want [****]
Essay 10: Militant Liturgies [****]
Essay 11: Correcting Acedia through Wonder and Gratitude [***]
Rounding Up ...

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

#God&Morality #NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: The Legacy

The Legacy by Melissa Delport
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Story: So much drama ... this was a character driven story that injected a whole lot of relationship/romance style drama that is just not in my wheelhouse. I was hoping for more of an action/adventure thriller than the emotional self-flagellation that drives the plot conflicts here. My fault for glossing over the "love and passion" in the author's blurb ... however, because I have difficulty connecting with characters that focus on interpersonal drama, I enlisted my daughter's opinion as well to be fair. Unfortunately, outside of the relationship conflicts, there really wasn't much story left. The World Building was fairly standard for a post-apocalyptic world that was not as interesting as I had hoped for; in addition, it was almost exclusively in the beginning of the story in a series of "info-dumps" that were exacerbated by the nearly emotionless cadence of the narrator. I felt like I was listening to a class lecture. The characters themselves seem formulaic with little to no growth by the end of the story ... nothing very memorable.

Performance: I am not a fan of the First Person POV; but if anything can make it work, it would be as an audiobook. Unfortunately, that is not the case here. The story was delivered with minimal inflection that made it too easy to tune out. This made it more difficult to tell which character was speaking, which also made it difficult to appreciate any dialog that tries to develop/support the relationship conflicts. In short, there just was not enough energy to keep me fully engaged in the story.

** I set the narration speed to 1.25 to resolve some of the cadence issues

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

View all my reviews

Review: City of Wolves

City of Wolves by Kat Ross
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Previous Review of City of Storms

This is the second in what appears to be a four (4) book series following “The City of Storms” and we return to a dystopian world of magic where two competing views are at war with each others. The Via Sancta has echoes of the Catholic Church while the Via Libertas are nihilists (aka nightmages). This book also introduces a third faction … Witches (with an awesome twist). It has been long enough since I had finished the first book, it took me a little to orient myself to each of the three (3) primary POVs: Alexi - An inquisitor styled priest with a conscience; Malach - a nightmage with a heart; and Kasi - a cartomancer with a secret. Even the supporting characters (such as Lezarius) are complex enough to weave in their PoV from time to time … and the world itself is exquisite as you can recognize just enough to feel almost familiar (if you are any exposure to western religion/mythology and latin … and germanic/slavic languages). The various magic is generally tied to the concept of ley lines (which is typically manipulated with marks or objects … alchemy, cartomancy and lithomancy). If you get lost, there is a helpful glossary in the back.

With the second book joining the first on my favorites shelf … this is now an author I will buy on sight.

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

#CityOfWolves #BookSirens.

View all my reviews

Review: Life Surrendered: Finding Freedom at the Cross

Life Surrendered: Finding Freedom at the Cross by Jessica Herberger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a devotional focused upon the events of Good Friday, with an imaginative reflection to help us obtain a new understanding of the Cross. Told in 16 chapters across four (4) parts, with each chapter devoted to a “little” death (detachment) that we should embrace. Each chapter is a mix of imaginative exegesis of the relevant scripture along a few personal anecdotes. For a devotional with the goal of reimagining the events of Good Friday, there really isn’t a lot that is new here (or even very controversial), but are a few that stand out … such as the observation that Simon (the man pressed into carrying the Cross of Jesus for a time), would have needed to completely reverse direction to do so (something I never really considered before). 

As might be expected, the personal vignettes are hit or missing with my own experience, but they are all short and at least have something to which I can still connect. The chapters conclude with the “Via Dolorosa Way of Grief” (similar to the Stations of the Cross where we follow Jesus from Gethsemane to Golgotha) that is organized into three (3) sections of questions to contemplate: Reflect, Confess and Reconsider; to help the reader connect with the chapter topic. This is probably the only part that is somewhat unique amongst similar devotionals … so if you are not into reflections questions, this book is probably not for you. That said, for the rest of us, this book provides the reader with a wonderful place to start on their meditation on the Passion of Christ during Holy Week. In addition, be sure to check out the link at the end for the online supplemental materials …

Introduction
Part One - Foundations of Freedom
- Chapter One: The Freedom of Releasing Control (Death of Self)
- Chapter Two: Letting Go of the Battles That Aren’t Yours (Death of the Fight)
- Chapter Three: You Don’t Need to Respond (Death of the Rebuttal)

Part Two - Not All Letting Go is Good
- Chapter Four: When All Seems Lost (Death of Hope)
- Chapter Five: Crowd Control (Death of the Compassionate Crowd)
- Chapter Six: Seeking Truth (Death of Reason)

Part Three - Reimagining
- Chapter Seven: Who Am I? (Death of Entitlement)
- Chapter Eight: Care of Others (Death of Distress)
- Chapter Nine: Advocating Forgiveness (Death of Revenge)
- Chapter Ten: It’s Just a Name (Death of Earthly Titles)
- Chapter Eleven: Reinventing Relations (Death of the Ties That Bind)
- Chapter Twelve: Implausible Timing (Death of Presumptions)
- Chapter thirteen - Upending Traditions (Death of How It Was)

Part Four - Beaty for Ashes
- Chapter Fourteen: Certainty (Death of Doubt)
- Chapter Fifteen: Boldness (Death of Fear)
- Chapter Sixteen: Fearless (Death of the Fear of Death)

Postscript - Beauty in Dying (Death of a Loved One)
Timeline of Good Friday Events

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

View all my reviews