Exploring Books, Life, and Writing
Election is controversial. Of course, I’m talking about the Christian doctrine, not any recent political events.
For five hundred years Protestants have gone back and forth on the topic of predestination and all its implications. The effect for sensitive souls, however, can be to worry and wonder, “Am I one of the elect? Am I one of the chosen, or will I somehow fall outside the bounds of grace?”
Continue reading “Through Old Testament Eyes 4: Who Are the Chosen Ones?”
When I first saw Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings I was struck by Howard Shore’s musical score, especially his Shire theme. Immediately I noticed that as it begins we can sing right along the opening words of “This Is My Father’s World” before it takes off with Shore’s own melody. At first I wondered, “Doesn’t he know that’s a famous hymn tune?” But then it hit me. Of course he does, and he’s using it on purpose.
Continue reading “Through Old Testament Eyes 3: Getting the Whole Story”
The hillbilly or redneck culture of poor whites in Appalachia is largely hidden from view or intentionally ignored by much of the rest of the country, as the recent election showed. In Hillbilly Elegy, J. D. Vance, who himself grew up in this culture, offers a warm yet starkly honest view of himself, his extended family and his people.
Continue reading “Hillbilly Elegy”
Adolf Hitler knew his history. He knew that one of the world’s greatest military geniuses, Napoleon, was defeated when he invaded Russia. Hitler knew that his Nazi generals strongly advised against opening a second front in 1941 when Germany had not yet subdued England. Yet he invaded Russia anyway. Why?
Continue reading “Why Hitler Lost”
The epic life of Dmitri Shostakovich and his music offers a window into the terror of Stalin’s purges and the cruelty of the Nazi blockade of his beloved Leningrad (St. Petersburg) during World War II. In Symphony for the City of the Dead, M. T. Anderson begins with Shostakovich’s early life and development, taking us step by step to the climactic composition and performance of The Leningrad Symphony in the midst of the city’s starvation.
Along the way we see the narcissistic paranoia of Stalin that led him to kill millions of his own people–most of whom had not been anti-Soviet or anti-Stalin. His fear made him kill many of his own military officers as well, leaving a huge leadership vacuum when Hitler attacked that almost cost them the war.
During those pre- and post-war purges, Shostakovich survived as many did by attempting to play a life-and-death game of agreeing with the powers that be while composing mostly as he wanted. Though he did not try to defend himself much and seemed often to capitulate, he endangered himself by using his notoriety to advocate for friends and family who had been arrested.
The story of the siege of Leningrad is horrific and graphic–people eating shoe-leather, leaves, wallpaper paste and each other in desperate attempts to survive. Yet, amazingly, the symphony was written and then smuggled out on microfilm and played around the world in the early months of 1942 giving hope to the Allied nations when the Nazi’s seemed invincible.
Even more amazingly, the symphony was performed in Leningrad itself in August 1942, with the city still surrounded. Musicians could barely play and even fainted from hunger during rehearsals. The military initiated an offensive on the other side of the city so the performance could go on uninterrupted.
M. T. Anderson is a well-know author of excellent juvenile fiction. Though this book is labeled juvenile non-fiction, it is an fine example of narrative non-fiction on par with McCullough and Meacham.
I confess I have never been fond of the music of Shostakovich, it being too abstract for my taste. But M. T. Anderson’s tour de force compelled me to listen to the Leningrad Symphony multiple times. Each time I found it to be every bit as powerful as the story behind it.
Next: Why Hitler Lost
My wife has a heart as wide as the horizon. I have the emotional range of a turnip. While my wife disputes this, many others have confirmed it. I think I know at least part of the reason. While my name may be French, my blood seems to be Scandahoovian.
Continue reading “Speaking Minnesotan”
One evening in June 1991, Michael Weisser and his wife, Julie, were unpacking boxes in their new home in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he had become the new Jewish Cantor at a Jewish congregation. The phone rang, and they answered it. “You’ll be sorry you ever moved in, Jew boy,” the caller said and hung up.
Continue reading “Fighting Hatred in an Unexpected Way”
Reading the New Testament apart from the Old Testament is like having just one good eye. We can function, certainly. But we will lack depth perception and may misinterpret what we see. Objects may be closer or further away than we think. As a result, we may bump into something we shouldn’t have–or miss something we were trying to hit.
Continue reading “Through Old Testament Eyes 2: Misreading Jesus’ Trial”
Many Christians function with half a Bible. When we feel troubled we may go to the Psalms, or when we need an exciting story to keep children entertained we may go to Daniel or Jonah. But that may be about it. We say the whole Bible is authoritative and inspired by God, but sadly the Old Testament remains largely a closed book.
Continue reading “Through Old Testament Eyes 1: Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels”
Henry Kissinger (now age 92) has been a prominent international figure since I was in high school when he became Nixon’s National Security Advisor and later Secretary of State. He seemed to me to be an urbane realist then and an elder statesman now. By looking deeply at Kissinger’s early writings and the record of his actions as filled out by declassified top secret documents from previous decades, historian Greg Grandin offers a very different picture in Kissinger’s Shadow.
Continue reading “Kissinger’s Shadow”