Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Book Review: Diary of a Player by Brad Paisley and David Wild
Just like his songs, this book is a great read. Laugh. Cry. Think. It's all there. And as much as they would like you to think that the main thread running through this book is the guitar, it's not. This is a love story pure and simple. Sure, one of the love interests is the guitar. But there's much more.
Before going on, however, I need to disclose how much I love Brad Paisley. And much like the story he tells in the book, it's his songwriting that speaks to me the most. I've said before that Paisley is the artist with the greatest number of songs that make me cry. Then. Waitin on a Woman. He Didn't Have to Be. Letter to Me. Anything Like Me. Then there's the songs that make me laugh. Online. Ticks. Toilet Song. Mr. Policeman. I'm Gonna Miss Her. Both lists are extremely long for an artist only a decade in his career.
Now back to the book. This book is a love story about a boy and his Papaw. Doesn't sound like a best seller, but this is country music. It's a story about a love for music. And a guitar. About staying up late trying to figure out, note for note, what some old geezer is playing on an old tune that only other old geezers listen to. It's about a teenager playing on a big stage with a bunch of old dudes but not letting it go to his head. It's about a love for tradition -- in both music and values. There's a love interest in songwriting itself and the process one goes through in crafting a tune. There's a love story about his wife Kim. That actually doesn't make up too big of a piece of the pie, though. There's the love of being a father. There's the love for Nashville -- all the people that make up the country music family both musicians and fans. There's a great story about the H20 tour and the Nashville floods. Lastly, there's a beautiful story about a Martin guitar.
This book is crafted in a way very similar to Paisley's songs. The only difference is Wild takes the place of Brad's songwriting partners. The result is equally emotional. Equally old-fashioned wholesome goodness. And equally country.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
There's No Such Thing as "Judeo-Christian"
It's a pet peeve of mine. The use of "Judeo-Christian" as if a Jewish ethos and a Christian ethos could be combined. As if any Jewish or Christian ethos were monolithic to begin with. Besides, usually when people say "Judeo-Christian," what they mean is "Christian." The "Judeo" part is usually added for political purposes.
The best counter to the Judeo-Christian myth that I've seen is by Steven Katz in his very hard to find book Jewish Ideas and Concepts: The Building Blocks of the Jewish Intellectual Tradition (and here). This is an excellent book and provides a concise chance for a Christian to get accurate info on the Jewish rabbinical tradition without the danger of Christian Zionists' poisoning the well.
Katz makes it clear when he says "the 'Judeo-Christian tradition' is . . . a 'myth,' and realistically speaking, from the Jewish side at least, there is little on which such a tradition could be built" (ix). Katz first refutes the myth by pointing out that viewing each religion as monotheistic is itself problematic -- particularly to Jews. While Christians view themselves as monotheists, any Jewish attempt to explain the Trinity as monotheism would require some theological gymnastics. Therefore, "it seems accurate to note that Jews and Christians cannot both be correct" (ix). So any Judeo-Christian tradition which attempts to be built on the monotheism of both religions runs into problems off the bat.
He goes on to point out that, while Jews and Christians share the Hebrew bible as canon, Christians read these books specifically through the lens of Christ's salvific power. The story of Creation is read with Jesus being present. Adam is a prototype for Christ, etc. The fallenness of humanity is also a requirement of Christianity if Christ's suffering is going to be needed to redeem us. There is nothing of this sort in Judaism. There may be the need for repairing the world, but humanity itself is not condemned to original sin in the same way as in Christianity. This anthropological difference also makes any attempt at a Judeo-Christian tradition difficult.
The Christian and Jewish concepts of "messiah" are also greatly different. As Katz says, "it is important to state that Judaism and Christianity can never reach any theological rapprochement over this crucial issue because the concepts of 'Messiah' and 'messianism' mean something different in the two religions" (xi). Later he states that "the clearest and most important example of this difference is found in the fact that the personal soteriological function which is at the very center of Christian messianism, i.e., 'Jesus died for our sins,' is totally absent from Jewish messianism, which accords the Messiah no role in the drama of personal salvation and judgement. This is a central refutation to the Christian Zionism so loudly proclaimed by preachers such as John Hagee.
Simply put, Judaism and Christianity share no tradition. Historically, the two have been at odds since Acts. There is no shared historical tradition. There is no shared liturgical tradition. There is a nominal shared tradition in secular philosophy and the arts. There is also a similar moral standard between the two. This gives rise to the "Judeo-Christian values" variant. While slightly more accurate, its reflection of the "Judeo-Christian tradition" myth still makes it fall a bit flat. The only thing truly shared between Judaism and Christianity is the Hebrew bible/Old Testament. But as mentioned above, both traditions read these books from a different perspective.
More important than anything else, this myth of a shared tradition -- especially a shared theological tradition -- can be extremely dangerous when found in the violence prone variant of Christianity manifest in Christian Zionism. As mentioned earlier, Hagee and his ilk being at the center of that apostasy. Simply put, there is not one single shred of Scriptural theology in Hagee's work. I don't care how many verses he puts up on the multi-thousand dollar LED screen behind him.
The best counter to the Judeo-Christian myth that I've seen is by Steven Katz in his very hard to find book Jewish Ideas and Concepts: The Building Blocks of the Jewish Intellectual Tradition (and here). This is an excellent book and provides a concise chance for a Christian to get accurate info on the Jewish rabbinical tradition without the danger of Christian Zionists' poisoning the well.
Katz makes it clear when he says "the 'Judeo-Christian tradition' is . . . a 'myth,' and realistically speaking, from the Jewish side at least, there is little on which such a tradition could be built" (ix). Katz first refutes the myth by pointing out that viewing each religion as monotheistic is itself problematic -- particularly to Jews. While Christians view themselves as monotheists, any Jewish attempt to explain the Trinity as monotheism would require some theological gymnastics. Therefore, "it seems accurate to note that Jews and Christians cannot both be correct" (ix). So any Judeo-Christian tradition which attempts to be built on the monotheism of both religions runs into problems off the bat.
He goes on to point out that, while Jews and Christians share the Hebrew bible as canon, Christians read these books specifically through the lens of Christ's salvific power. The story of Creation is read with Jesus being present. Adam is a prototype for Christ, etc. The fallenness of humanity is also a requirement of Christianity if Christ's suffering is going to be needed to redeem us. There is nothing of this sort in Judaism. There may be the need for repairing the world, but humanity itself is not condemned to original sin in the same way as in Christianity. This anthropological difference also makes any attempt at a Judeo-Christian tradition difficult.
The Christian and Jewish concepts of "messiah" are also greatly different. As Katz says, "it is important to state that Judaism and Christianity can never reach any theological rapprochement over this crucial issue because the concepts of 'Messiah' and 'messianism' mean something different in the two religions" (xi). Later he states that "the clearest and most important example of this difference is found in the fact that the personal soteriological function which is at the very center of Christian messianism, i.e., 'Jesus died for our sins,' is totally absent from Jewish messianism, which accords the Messiah no role in the drama of personal salvation and judgement. This is a central refutation to the Christian Zionism so loudly proclaimed by preachers such as John Hagee.
Simply put, Judaism and Christianity share no tradition. Historically, the two have been at odds since Acts. There is no shared historical tradition. There is no shared liturgical tradition. There is a nominal shared tradition in secular philosophy and the arts. There is also a similar moral standard between the two. This gives rise to the "Judeo-Christian values" variant. While slightly more accurate, its reflection of the "Judeo-Christian tradition" myth still makes it fall a bit flat. The only thing truly shared between Judaism and Christianity is the Hebrew bible/Old Testament. But as mentioned above, both traditions read these books from a different perspective.
More important than anything else, this myth of a shared tradition -- especially a shared theological tradition -- can be extremely dangerous when found in the violence prone variant of Christianity manifest in Christian Zionism. As mentioned earlier, Hagee and his ilk being at the center of that apostasy. Simply put, there is not one single shred of Scriptural theology in Hagee's work. I don't care how many verses he puts up on the multi-thousand dollar LED screen behind him.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Book Review: A Concise Economic History of the World from Paleolithic Times to the Present
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I don't always have an inspiration for something to blog about. But I AM always reading. So I might as well offer my casual impression of books as I finish them. It's win/win. Whatever that means.
Just finished A Concise Economic History of the World: From Paleolithic Times to the Present by Rondo Cameron. The third edition takes us to the formation of the EU. I only skimmed the last chapter on 1989-1997 anyway so reading the fourth edition wouldn't have made much of a difference.
Overall, this was a very good book. Initially, I was hoping for more of a history of economic theory. More names like Smith, Marx, Kaynes, Friedman along with how their trains of thought progressed and evolved. While that's not what I got, I still enjoyed it. This would best be described as a history of the world through the lens of economics. Definitely more numbers in this book than theory. I definitely could use the info, though, as it has been years since I've had any coursework on world history.
One beef I have is with the title. This is DEFINITELY not a history of world economics. This is a history of European economics (re: "Western") with attention paid to other countries and regions only when their trajectories intersect the West's. It's also Not a history from Paleolithic times to the present. Cameron spends only a couple pages on the economic history from Paleolithic times to the ancient world. With that said, this book would be MUCH larger, if not a multi-volume work, had Cameron actually covered the entirety of the globe along with a full range of 12,000 years of history. In the end, my beef ends up being focused on his title and not the content of the book. A more accurate title would downplay the global as well as time period.
On Goodreads, I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. The beef described above was -1 star. The fact that it didn't blow my mind would have given it 4 out of 5. Definitely worth reading. If you decide to, try and get the fourth edition. Let me know what's been added. ;)
I don't always have an inspiration for something to blog about. But I AM always reading. So I might as well offer my casual impression of books as I finish them. It's win/win. Whatever that means.
Just finished A Concise Economic History of the World: From Paleolithic Times to the Present by Rondo Cameron. The third edition takes us to the formation of the EU. I only skimmed the last chapter on 1989-1997 anyway so reading the fourth edition wouldn't have made much of a difference.
Overall, this was a very good book. Initially, I was hoping for more of a history of economic theory. More names like Smith, Marx, Kaynes, Friedman along with how their trains of thought progressed and evolved. While that's not what I got, I still enjoyed it. This would best be described as a history of the world through the lens of economics. Definitely more numbers in this book than theory. I definitely could use the info, though, as it has been years since I've had any coursework on world history.
One beef I have is with the title. This is DEFINITELY not a history of world economics. This is a history of European economics (re: "Western") with attention paid to other countries and regions only when their trajectories intersect the West's. It's also Not a history from Paleolithic times to the present. Cameron spends only a couple pages on the economic history from Paleolithic times to the ancient world. With that said, this book would be MUCH larger, if not a multi-volume work, had Cameron actually covered the entirety of the globe along with a full range of 12,000 years of history. In the end, my beef ends up being focused on his title and not the content of the book. A more accurate title would downplay the global as well as time period.
On Goodreads, I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. The beef described above was -1 star. The fact that it didn't blow my mind would have given it 4 out of 5. Definitely worth reading. If you decide to, try and get the fourth edition. Let me know what's been added. ;)
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