Meditating on the Names of God

Names can be powerful things. Those of us how have children can all probably relate to how much we thought and debated about what word they would be labelled with the rest of their lives as central to their identity. Lucky for God, He wasn't limited by just one name. :)

I've seen many short devotionals and works of art based on the many names of God. In his short book, Your Great Name: Discovering Power for Your Life in the Awesome Names of God, Michael Neale explores some of the names of God used throughout the Bible and based on his song, Your Great Name.

For well-studied biblical scholars, there probably isn't much new information, but I don't think that's how this book is meant to be used. Texts like this remind me that worship and being in awe of God isn't necessarily just about getting information and understanding. Sometimes it's simpler, just hearing the names of our Lord and meditating on them. Frankly, being able to listen to a short audiobook, taking a break from having to be as critical of a thinker, actually helped me feel more connected to God.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Theology in Fiction

When the Les Misérables musical came out a year ago on the big screen, it spurred a new wave of discussion of the theological concepts presented in Victor Hugo's time-honored novel.

While I normally review nonfiction books on faith, religion, and theology, it's actually quite refreshing to review fiction and recognize how powerfully it can convey theological points. Oftentimes, fiction can do so more effectively than systematic theologies. And Les Miz is a perfect example. The themes of love, grace, and mercy triumphing over the rigidity of the law are lessons we constantly need, especially in our current cultural landscape.

Up for review here is Focus on the Family's radio theatre version. I actually listened to it over a year ago before the film came out, but in the midst of flying to Florida for our baby, having him born, getting used to having an infant, etc., writing a review ran away from me. But that's not to say the audio drama was poor. Much to the contrary, it was an excellent presentation of the tale. I've never read the actual story (my attention span is too short for that :) ), so some of the subplots and specific stories used by Focus were quite new to me.

Listening to it made me really reflect on how elements of stories are chosen for adaptations. In fact, I think a great way to use this version is in conjunction with the film. Together, they probably present a more accurate picture of the overall tale, each exploring certain nuances that the other misses. This gives a much richer exploration of the story and characters and leads to much more valuable theological insights.

Additionally, some Christian audio drama can be quite heavy handed and cheesy. This one did not come across either way to me. It is one I would recommend to both Christians and non-Christians alike.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Faith, Gender Identity, and Suicide @DavidOlson11

Back in November, one of our local freeway interchanges was shut down after a man suicided by jumping off the overpass. I recently discovered that man was a transgendered woman, Kaylee Johnson, who also struggled with her faith because of gender identity issues. David Olson's article about Johnson stated:

Johnson had a hard time reconciling her faith in God with her gender identity, after leaving the Mormon faith she grew up with and relied on for support, because she didn’t feel accepted by the church. 

She was stung by rejection from people she loved and whose acceptance she desperately wanted, especially some members of her family, Chambers said.

I didn't know Johnson, so I can't speak to what influenced this final attempt. But as Olson's article states, many transgendered people struggle with faith and consider or attempt suicide. A lot of focus has been on the impact of religion on homosexuality and suicide, as I've written about before. While this awareness is wonderful, anyone familiar with LGBT issues know the T usually gets the least attention. And those falling in the T category are often even more misunderstood than non-heterosexual orientation. Greater misunderstanding=greater persecution.

Regardless of one's beliefs on LGBT issues, I hope all can agree that suicide is tragic and not a desirable outcome. Everyone, especially those of us from faith communities, need to act in ways that prevent such destruction, not contribute to it. People of the Christian faith need to remember that Jesus loved, supported, valued, and spent almost all of his time with the people who were misunderstood, rejected, and devalued. That sort of action positively changed lives, unlike the condemning and criticizing and judging of the Pharisees.

We have the opportunity to literally save people's lives by how we treat them. And even for those who value the next life more than the current one--we can't save someone if they're dead. So please, remember our faith-based priorities when encountering those who are different from and those we don't understand. It could be the difference between life and death. Literally.

From One Extreme to Another Without Support

Rosaria Champagne Butterfield's book, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, is almost an understatement. Butterfield's text tells of some of her journey from an activist lesbian English department chair specializing in LGBT studies and publicly critical of the Religious Right to a Christian in a heterosexual marriage homeschooling her children as part of an ultra-conservative denomination. That alone would catch most people's attention, as it did mine.

Right up front, I have to give Butterfield kudos for being willing to share her experiences and "secret thoughts" honestly. She's had quite a life, and if more people were willing to put themselves out there to be honest about their journeys, our world and ability to be spiritually transformed would probably be improved.

Unfortunately, there are major limitations of this book. It is advertised as exploring her conversion experience and "journey into Christian faith." Very little of the book deals with her change of heart and mind. Most of it focuses on her post-conversion development.

With moving from one extreme to another, Butterfield did not really provide any explanation as to what made the change. She just vaguely says that she was convinced of the Christian faith. I also give major kudos to the pastor who walked with her without judgment or pressure. Butterfield explains that this played a major role. But it doesn't really provide an explanation as to why she made such a quick, radical shift to the polar opposite side of the spectrum. If she were able to explore that process, this text could potentially be much more helpful for many individuals who struggle with the many challenging questions she brings up in the book.

Butterfield clearly has very strong critical thinking skills, yet she seems to regularly drop them when explaining her theological convictions. For instance, she defends her Reformed Presbyterian stance of only a capella versions of Psalms (never using movement or dancing) by saying, "I believe God directed us to sing Psalms during worship to the exclusion of man-made hymns" because that's what Jesus sang. Um, how does she know that's what Jesus sang and without instrumentation? Did she forget about David worshipping through dance (also not allowed in her denomination), instruments, and clearly not singing Psalms in group worship, since he wrote many of them?

Her tendency to make large, absolute statements about theological truth without adequate support made her lose credibility to me. She really lost my support when she quoted Jay Adams (for those unfamiliar, he reads the Bible extremely literally and thinks it provides everything we need to know about humanity to the exclusion of anything else, like psychology) as having strong biblical and intellectual legitimacy. I've read plenty of books by people with whom I disagree theologically (and I differ from her on most points), but I can at least follow their line of reasoning. She has some of the best scholarly credentials, but doesn't apply them and actually provides some of the weakest explanations and support of any book I've read.

However, I would give this book two stars to give her credit for putting herself out there, for maintaining and promoting hospitality, diversity, and openness to people who differ from her, and for advocating for adoption (obviously close to my heart). I do have to say that I was quite impressed and even surprised by the ability of her denomination, which I would classify as ultra-fundamentalist, to accept people as they are. If more of these congregations would approach others like Butterfield and her colleagues do, then we would see more conversions and fewer condemnation of Christianity.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”