From the introduction to David Bentley Hart’s Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies: “In what follows, my prejudices are transparent and unreserved, and my argument is in some respects willfully extreme (or so it might seem).”

Atheists Delusions is significant, masterfully written, and as page-turning as a Robert Ludlum novel, with ideas that are insightful and compelling. The subject matter is “chiefly about the early church” and the “triumph of Christianity”, which Hart argues is the only shift in Western civilization “that can be called in the fullest sense a ‘revolution’.” This shift resulted in a “revision of humanity’s prevailing vision of reality” and “created a new conception of the world, of history, of human nature, of time, and of the moral good.”

Not only does Hart discuss each of these conceptual categories as he argues his chief claim, but he confidently rejects and frequently critiques the secular rewriting of the Christian past. Hart challenges, prods, and tramples ideas recently put forth by the proselytes of the “Gospel of Unbelief”, refusing to surrender our Christian past to the sensibilities of men like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Philip Pullman, and Dan Brown. For instance, he argues that “Many of today’s most obstreperous critics of Christianity know nothing more of Christendom’s two millennia than a few childish images of bloodthirsty crusaders and sadistic inquisitors, a few damning facts, and a great number of even more damning legends.” Hart suggest that rather than Christians listening to the histories of the New Atheists, they ought to “deepen their own collective memory of what the gospel has been in human history.”

A thought on book introductions: Reading an introduction to a book is like Russian roulette; it can be an exercise of anticipation and dread. In order to fully examine a literary work, the reader’s critical eye must at some point be cast down the gun-barrel of the author’s introductory comments, of which there are two varieties: 1) the editors from the temples of the publishing gods smile upon the reader, publishing introductory comments that are succinct – derringer-like and informative, or 2) the reviewer is a figure of Egypt from the Exodus narrative, except in this case rather than plagues they are cursed with a plethora of paragraphs. I am a fan of paragraphs, but it is painful to engorge the mind with excess verbiage from belaboring authors and generous editors. Books, therefore, can be either “sweet” or “sour”. If I had a dollar for every bad book introduction I’ve read…

Initial praise for Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation by James K. A. Smith, who teaches at Calvin College:

This philosophical theology of culture is the first of a three volume Cultural Liturgies series, and its chief aim was birthed out of a “desire to communicate to students (and faculty) a vision of what authentic, integral Christian learning looks like, emphasizing how learning is connected to worship and how, together, these constitute practices of formation and discipleship.”

I believe this book is going to be received with a hearty “Amen” and that Christians enrolled and employed at universities and colleges will find Smith’s chief aim both consonant and challenging.

Smith, philosopher that he is, wants the reader to slow down and consider the central role of formative/liturgical practices. With much insight he states that, “Because our hearts are oriented primarily by desire, by what we love, and because those desires are shaped and molded by the habit-forming practices in which we participate, it is the rituals and practices of the mall—the liturgies of mall and market—that shape our imaginations and how we orient ourselves to the world.” This is a very compelling and very well phrased statement, no doubt about that. It reminds me of what the historian Eugen Rosenstock-Huessey said over six decades ago in Out of Revolution: Autobiography of Western Man: “Our passions give life to the world. Our collective passions constitute the history of mankind. . . . The heart of man either falls in love with somebody or something, or it falls ill. It can never go unoccupied.”

Love is at core of this book. Smith acknowledges, “human creatures are lovers before and above all else, and that the people of God is a community marked by a love and desire for the kingdom of God.” To be human is to love and to give oneself entirely to the desire for the object of one’s love, and that is why Smith believes when Christians desire the kingdom of God it “might look more like the passionate world of the Moulin Rouge than the staid, buttoned-down, talking-head world of the 700 Club.” Which is why Smith so eloquently says: “The end of learning is love; the path of discipleship is romantic.” And so Smith delves into Romantic Theology, and he asks us to come along.

Mounds of praise for Smith’s new book

“Those who accept salvation on the terms on which it is offered them constitute the church, those who reject it constitute the world; good men and angels belong to the one, wicked men and angels to the other; the head of the first is Christ, and the head of the last, Satan (A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines edited by William Smith and Henry Wace).”

The nobleman in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John is a figure of the Church of Christ – “And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him”. The Church of Christ, by accepting salvation, believes the word that Jesus speaks to them.

Wicked men and angels are not a figure of the Church of Christ; they are the antitype – they do not believe the word that Jesus speaks to them.

The Church of Christ accepts the Word of Jesus and give him glory; in doing this they are glorified and blessed by the word of Jesus. The wicked men and angels, seeking their own glory, are disobedient; they do not receive glory (Pro. 25:27), only judgment.

Does the American church today show its glorious wisdom at the front door, in the portal of the church? Are martyrs, bloody swords, and suffering servants of God our Sunday morning greeters? Hardly.

Rather, oftentimes we are greeted by Goliath-sized TV monitors, touch screen lobby digital directories, and “Information Centers”. Technology is a gift from God, but technology be damned if it veils any of the central truths of the Christian life; particularly, the cost of discipleship.

“In the Middle Ages, the church showed its glorious wisdom by placing statues of the martyrs at the front door, in the portal of the church. Thus the faithful were welcomed into the church with scenes of decapitation, bloody swords, and suffering servants of God. The church, up front, at the first, portrayed the cost of discipleship.”

Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer & the Christian Life by William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas

A thought regarding Proverbs 2:1: “My son, if thou wilt receive my words…”

Words are important, especially from a father to a son. With words a father can encourage his son to heed the father’s words, as we see Solomon doing when he urges his son to hear his instruction, as well as not forsaking the law of his mother (Pro 1:8). A good father will speak to his son, giving him instruction and steering him towards wisdom. Speaking, however, is tricky. Words easily fall to the ground.

A wise son will not let the words of his father fall. He will receive them, accepting them as a gift. Sound counsel, the wise words of a loving father, these can be given to sons as gifts. And we should be intentional about giving these gifts to our sons.

A grateful son will receive the words of his father. The son will take the father at his word (A son will learn how to do this because he has seen his father take the Lord at His word). Wise counsel, the words given as gifts from a father to a son, will provide rest for the son. And sons need rest to avoid becoming exasperated (Col 3:21).

What this does not mean is that fathers can simply communicate with words alone. They are required to act. For instance, men are told “to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly” (Mic 6:8). However, a spoken word functions somewhat differently than an action, and Solomon’s highlights this by denoting the importance of a son’s reception of his father’s words.

Job 30:26-31: “When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. I am a brother to dragons, and a companion of owls. My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.”

“Christians are those who ask to be saved. When we pray to God to save us, we are not asking for some changed self-understanding, some new way of feeling about ourselves, something to put zest in our lives. Salvation in Christ is being adopted (baptism), made members of a people, Israel, and the church. We really believe that if we were not part of this people we would not be saved.”

“So when the church has opinions about how you spend your money, how you have sex, how you vote, this is salvation. You are not simply being saved from personal greed or licentiousness, you are thereby being made a member of God’s people.”

Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer & the Christian Life by William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas

“What do you mean, you want to be a good Catholic?”
The explanation I gave was lame enough, and expressed my confusion, and betrayed how little I had really thought about it at all.
Lax did not accept it.
“What you should say”—he told me—“what you should say is that you want to be a saint.”
A saint! The thought struck me as a little weird. I said:
“How do you expect me to become a saint?”
“By wanting to,” said Lax, simply.

The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton