Book Reviews

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond || “Evicted has won multiple book awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. Its author, sociologist Matthew Desmond, received his doctorate from UW Madison and currently teaches sociology at Princeton. The book centers around several characters and their search for safe, habitable housing, and a pair of landlords making a living by leasing units to low income renters in Milwaukee. Desmond grew up on the fringes of poverty, and when he was an adult his childhood home was repossessed by a bank. He and a friend helped his industrious and frugal parents move out, and it seems that this experience and the shame associated with it impelled his career choice.”

In Transfiguring Luther: The Planetary Promise of Luther’s Theology, the Lutheran theologian Vítor Westhelle invites us to engage with Martin Luther’s theology in a new way. For those who are not familiar with Westhelle’s work, Transfiguring Luther is an introduction into Westhelle’s innovative and challenging reading of Martin Luther’s theology. For those who are familiar with Westhelle’s work, Transfiguring Luther is a collection of twenty-three of Westhelle’s arguments about and journeys into Martin Luther’s theology and the significance of Lutheran identity in a globalized, post-colonial world. In this review, I will introduce the concept of ‘the figura,’ which Westhelle uses as a conceit in his “transfiguring” of Luther. Then, I will proceed to outline a number of key themes that are present throughout the work. And then, finally, given Dr. Westhelle’s death this spring, I will offer some comments on what he meant to me personally and on the challenge that he left for us to continue.

Holiday seasons are among the most difficult for those in mourning. Well-meaning platitudes fall short, leaving friends at a loss for words, not knowing how to accompany loved ones engulfed in sorrow or facing death.

Letters written by Rainer Maria Rilke from 1907 to 1925 offer an intimate glimpse into the great poet’s understanding of death and the process of mourning. His letters to bereaved friends address the particularity of individual loss and the great themes of transformation in death and life. This small collection of letters is edited and translated by Ulrich Baer whose own difficult journey through his father’s death was transformed by Rilke’s words.

There are signs that all is not well with the Christian Church in North America. Among the signs often mentioned are these. First, institutional strength is in decline. Virtually all mainline denominations are experiencing membership loss and financial struggle. Second, the influence of the church seems to be less robust. Congregations were once often the center of community life and their voice a significant force in social discourse. This appears to be less true today. Third, a declining percentage of people identify with the Christian faith tradition. Polls suggest that an increasingly large portion of the population does not see much purpose in the church or has become disillusioned. Karen Bloomquist, a parish pastor, theological professor, scholar and church leader, in Seeing-Remembering-Connecting, offers an extremely helpful analysis and proposal for any congregation wishing to be faithfully engaged in the social order, which is to say, the place we live out our lives.

Lutheran Theology and Secular Law is the second of two volumes edited by Marie Failinger and Ron Duty that boldly take on the task of bringing Lutheran theology and legal theory and practice into conversation. The fifteen essays in the volume are divided into six parts: (1) Our secular age, (2) Lutheran theology and legal philosophy, (3) The individual and the state, (4) International law and human rights, (5) Domestic legal issues, and (6) Professionals, law, and neighbor-love. The three essays in the first two parts of the book are the most theoretical. For this reason, readers might consider jumping in midway through the volume, with the more topical essays, and circling back to the introductory essays later.

U.S. War Culture, Sacrifice and Salvation by Kelly Denton-Borhaug || I have been stunned by the careful discernment offered by Kelly Denton-Borhaug in her book of 2011, U.S. War Culture, Sacrifice and Salvation. When it comes to the service of the Christian church to the wider culture, this kind of theological and social analysis functions as a prophetic witness that reveals to ourselves just who we are as a people and as a nation. In what follows, I’d like to respond to Denton-Borhaug’s prophetic prompt within the framework of public theology in the United States.

Care for the Sorrowing Soul: Healing Moral Injuries from Military Service and Implications for the Rest of Us by Duane Larson and Jeff Zust || Our longest military conflict in U.S. history is still underway. Since 9-11 more than 4 million new veterans join the ranks of millions more who have preceded them. Veterans, families and professionals increasingly recognize that some veterans return with a variety of stress-related difficulties, including symptoms of depression, insomnia, withdrawal, isolation, chronic pain, marital strife or substance abuse. Unexpected sleep disorders, sense of regret, sadness, loss of purpose and direction become confusing for the veteran, their family, and friends. Some hurting veterans hesitate to share information, and through a sense of shame or guilt, hold these memories deeply hidden. Veterans silently and secretly carry this unexplained, unremitting, increasing pain and suffering.​​​

Jason Mahn places Luther’s theology of the cross, and accounts of discipleship in writings of Lutheran theologians Soren Kierkegaard and Dietrich Bonhoeffer in dialogue with what he calls the “Anti-Constantinian” writers John Howard Yoder, and Stanley Hauerwas. In doing so he wants to help American Christians think carefully about what it means to intentionally be a Christian in what some (but not Mahn) would call a “post-Christendom” culture.

The Violence of Climate Change: Lessons of Resistance from Non-Violent Activists by Kevin J. O’Brien || Kevin O’Brien’s rich and stimulating new book The Violence of Climate Change: Lessons of Resistance from Non-Violent Activists evokes the North-American Christian tradition of non-violent activism as a resource for resisting the destruction and suffering brought about by climate change. How might the commitment, courage and ingenuity of iconic non-violent activists such as John Woolman, Jane Adams, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez help us achieve climate justice? Writing in a lucid, compelling style, O’Brien directs his book mainly at concerned people of relative privilege who feel defeated by the complexity of climate change, yet realize that they are contributing to destruction and suffering by simply living their day to day lives.

The Marvelous Mustard Seed by Amy-Jill Levine, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, and Margauz Meganck || As a parish pastor I am constantly on the lookout for resources to support faith formation for the children in my congregation. Among my favorite resources is children’s literature. Children’s literature, good children’s literature, is a powerful way to engage children. Through literature, children are able to enter into realities far different from their own, contemplate ideas they have never before considered, or sometimes see their own lives from a different point of view. Just as Jesus’ parables lingered in the ears of his listeners, children can take ideas from books and live with them for a time. The challenge is finding the right books; books that demonstrate theological integrity and biblical accuracy with a developmental sensitivity. This is a tall order so I was delighted to discover The Marvelous Mustard Seed.