Our latest feature reviews, which cover the very best new books.
Feature Reviews
The Creative Society – Louis Galambos [Feature Review]
Looking back, perhaps with an eye to the future, Galambos believes “that America needed leaders who could manage the experts and do so in ways that served our national interests and were still consistent with American democratic values.” (219). While he found that “in business, as in government and the nonprofit sector, it took a combination of good leaders and professional expertise to keep an organization efficient as well as innovative” (238), in the end that is not enough. A society does need good leadership, but Galambos would do well to pay more attention to the issue of the character that a society’s narratives produce. The problem and the challenge is not leaders to manage the experts, but the ethos out of which the leaders and their experts operate. The innovative efficiency of experts needs more than a sprinkling of equity, it needs to be shaped by a story that attends to the top and the bottom as well as the middle–it needs community.
Gandhi and the Unspeakable – James Douglass [Feature Review]
Those of us who follow Christ would do well to meditate on the teaching and example of our Lord, who for the joy set before him ultimately suffered and died out of love for his enemies. For Gandhi, the cross-shaped life and death of Jesus provided a formative example to follow, and the world was never the same because of it. But for those who have died with Christ and have been raised with him, we have more than an example to guide us; we have the gift of resurrection life itself. I pray that we, by the grace of God, would look more and more like our Jesus every day.
A Silence of Mockingbirds – Karen Spears Zacharias [Review]
I knew two things about the subject of Karen Spears Zacharias’ new book A Silence of Mockingbirds: The Memoir of a Murder going in: it was about the brutal murder of an innocent child, and this murder was preventable. This wasn’t going to be light reading, but I knew it was necessary. Especially as a former educator, I felt the weight of responsibility to see signs of abuse others had missed. This wouldn’t be pleasant, but hopefully it would be informative and in that sense, redemptive.
The Sea is My Brother – Jack Kerouac [Feature Review]
In the church, in life, one cannot dismiss a person for being less formally educated, nor can naivety be cause for scorn. For those reasons, the novel would be a decent read for those who want to think about and be challenged about the roles of theoretical education and practical application in the church. However, The Sea is My Brother would not be a good introduction to Jack Kerouac and his writing style.
Forming Christian Habits in Post-Christendom [Feature Review]
Like most weddings (and births, anniversaries, retirements, and funerals), Forming Christian Habits in Post-Christendom is a great experience for those already familiar with the honorees. For someone hooked by Alan and Eleanor’s 2011 Worship and Mission After Christendom, Krabill and Muray’s edited volume helps the reader get to know the Kreiders better. But, also like a festive gathering, Forming Christian Habits in Post-Christendom welcomes new acquaintances, introducing them person by person, essay by essay to the Kreiders’ life and vision. This has been my path. Turning the last page, I’m eager to join my voice to the conversation.
