November Reading Log

 

It's my shortest-ever reading log this month thanks to a 900+ page giant, a 4-volume comic series, and, well, 2020. Take a look!

1 Article I Like This Month

"2020 Revealed Our True Character" by Joshua Whitfield, The Dallas Morning News. 4 minutes.

In this op-ed, priest Joshua Whitfield argues that the pandemic has unveiled who we really are: a nation of guilty hedonists, more concerned with our own pleasures than others' well-being. A sobering, convicting thought.

THE LAST WORD: BEYOND THE BIBLE WARS TO A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE by N.T. Wright

One of the dog whistles of the last hundred years of church life and biblical scholarship has been "the authority of the Bible." For religious conservatives, the Bible's authority was unquestioned and unquestionable, even as they played their own hermeneutical games to ignore the parts of Scripture that didn't fit their worldview. Religious liberals, who looked at Scripture with a warier eye, committed the same hermeneutical malpractice, weaponizing the Bible even as they questioned its authenticity and effectiveness. With the so-called "Bible wars" now at ended (or least in a period of armistice), the question remains: what does "the authority of the Bible" really mean?

In The Last Word, N.T. Wright seeks to answer this question and to chart out a better model for biblical interpretation than the shallow options we have lived with for decades. He begins by defining the term, stating that when we say "the authority of Scripture" what we really mean is "the authority of God exercised through Scripture"—God, not the Bible, is the point; the Bible is the means through which God tells His story. For Wright, neither bibliolatry nor dismissing Scripture are options; the Bible must be treated seriously and regarded properly.

The trick part then is how to do that. Wright argues, drawing upon his work in The New Testament and the People of God, that the Bible (and human history) should be read like a five-act play: creation, fall, Israel, Jesus, and church. With this in mind, the reader should go to Scripture with the understanding that we are living in the fifth act—the stories of acts 1-4 are relevant and important, to be sure, but not everything we read there is normative for today. For example, just because Israel was called to build a temple doesn't mean we are too—that was something for act 3, but Scripture tells us that at the conclusion of our act (a new heaven and a new earth) there will be no temple, because God himself will be with us. Simply put, the Bible should be read with an understanding of when we are.

Furthermore, Wright calls for a reading of Scripture that respects scholarship, tradition, and reason, while never exalting them above the Bible itself. Unlike theological liberals, who too often see the Bible as something to work around; or anti-intellectual theological conservatives, Wright wants to see the church engage with biblical archaeological, and theological research as tools for better understanding the Bible. Outside knowledge is not something to be feared or exploited when reading Scripture, but used for understanding.

This was not my favorite Wright book, but it succinctly goes about its task in a way that engages the issue and leaves you with a few things to think about. A good read for those interested in the topic.

DON QUIXOTE by Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Edith Grossman

Classic works of literature intimidate me. Especially long ones, Especially translations. So checking out Don Quixote, all 942 pages of it, from the public library at the beginning of the month was a big step for me...and one I'm glad I took.

Don Quixote tells the story of a nobleman who reads so many tales of chivalry that he loses his mind and decides to become a knight himself, roaming the land in search of adventure and honor. Accompanied by a farmer he recruits to be his squire, the loyal Sancho Panza, he gets into a series of misadventures (such as the famous scene in which he tries to joust with windmills believing them to be giants) and is at turns humored and mocked by the outside world, who see his quest as old-fashioned and delusional.

There are several remarkable things about the novel. The first is how lovable Don Quixote is, to say nothing of Sancho Panza (who you could argue is the real protagonist of the book). Despite the alternate reality the "knight" has constructed for himself, you can't help but root for him—the nobility of his intentions manages to, at times, overshadow the reality of his situation. The second is how funny the book is. While I knew that the book was considered a comedic novel, I didn't necessarily expect humor from 1605 to translate to today as well as it did.

Credit for that goes in equal measure to Cervantes himself, the author of the novel, and the English translator, Edith Grossman. Grossman does a fantastic job maintaining the tone of the original novel while remaining faithful to the source, and a quick Google search tells me her translation is widely considered the best ever. All I know is that, while it took me the whole month to read, I never got bored. If you're looking for an accessible, fun, compelling classic, don't let the page length scare you away—start here.

THE WICKED + THE DIVINE: DELUXE EDITION VOL. 1-4 by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie

If you're familiar with classic mythology, you know that the gods are far from perfect. While their power is far beyond that of mortals, their temptations, arrogance, and hubris are all too human. They are better than us, but somehow no different than us.

In The Wicked + The Divine, writer Kieron Gillen and artist Jamie McKelvie build on this premise with a story in which the gods have manifested as celebrity pop stars. The pantheon has two years to enjoy the fame and adulation of an adoring public, as well as supernatural powers, but at the end of the two years they will die, only for the cycle to begin again in 90 years.

The series follows the pantheon's adventures through the eyes of Laura, a fangirl-turned-goddess (Persephone) whose initial outsider status makes her the perfect foil for her counterparts. After a series of misadventures and uncovered conspiracies, Laura is able to see beyond the cycle and, ultimately, to show the pantheon how to escape the trap of godhood.

I enjoyed this series, but it was a frustrating read at times, a complex story in which you were learning as you went. There were definitely times I only understood 60% of what I was reading. But Gillen's weaknesses as a storyteller are balanced by his skill for dialogue, and McKelvie's art was consistently beautiful, so I was happy to stay on the ride to the bitter end. This series isn't for everyone (it would be a hard R, maybe even NC-17 if it were ever made into a movie), but I was glad to spend the month in this strange world.