BlogRodent: Pentecostal Rumination & Review

I love it when writers I enjoy get reflective and journal their process — when they slice open their artistic arteries and bleed out on the page, revealing what courses through their hearts. That's why I enjoy [reading] writing books like Stephen King's memoir on writing, as well as David Morrell's, Ray Bradbury's, Anne Lamott's, Frank McCourt's (though more about teaching than writing), Nancy Kress's, a collection of essays on writers and their public mortification and, of course, Orson Scott Card's excellent work.

In a completely non-churchy, frivolous post, I had to share this with you. My head is reeling with the story, and I'm amused that a piece of "creative" fiction I wrote doesn't seem as far-fetched as I once thought.

First, the news item, via the BBC.

Last Thursday, a pack of hungry, killer squirrels (yes, that's right — squirrels) descended from from on high to terminate with extreme prejudice a stray dog. The stray was, admittedly, annoying the hungry squirrels: loitering around their tree, barking at them with short-lived temerity. When the black squirrels finally had enough, they swarmed down the tree like ninja rodents, attacked the dog and literally eviscerated him.

When some human-folk came to investigate, they scampered off ... some of them still clamping dog-meat in their jowls. Read about it here:

I keep seeing these posts where memes get passed around, where one person "tags" another as an inducement to answer a list of questions. One is presumably supposed to answer the questions, post the response, and tag a handful of others.

I had been secretly glad that I'd never been tagged. And I also wondered, just how are you supposed to find out you're on the hook?

Well. Never mind. There I was ego-surfing my blog, checking out the incoming referrers, wondering who's linked to me lately, and there I find that Travis Johnson, fellow PneumaBlogger, has done gone and tagged me with the One Book meme.

An enterprising Ben Fernström, with way too much time on his hands, tracked down the beginnings of the One Book meme, wrote an entertaining narrative, and positioned himself as belonging to the 14th generation of this meme's recipients.

Thus, ultimately, we have Benjamin Myers to blame for this post. I'm the 18th generation of this particular meme, but by a different route (see the note at the end).

:: sigh ::

Well, at least I'm one of the cool kids now!

So, here goes:

Christianity Today just published an interview with Ben Witherington III, professor of New Testament at Asbury Seminary in Kentucky. It’s a concise and interesting interview, well worth the read. It comes on the heels of his latest book: The Problem with Evangelical Theology: Testing the Exegetical Foundations of Calvinism, Dispensationalism, and Wesleyanism. According to editor Mark Galli, in this book, Witherington “makes a positive argument for how biblical interpretation should be done in an increasingly postmodern setting.”

Here’s the link to the article:

The Problem with Evangelical Theologies
Ben Witherington III thinks there is something fundamentally weak about each branch of the movement.
Interview by Mark Galli | posted 11/09/2005 09:00 a.m.

Here’s an excerpt that is clearly relevant for Pentecostals:

So, what is the problem

The ever-brilliant (and most widely-read man I know) John Wilson over at Books & Culture, reflects on the pre-conversion writing of Anne Rice (especially Interview with the Vampire) and concludes with a comment on her conversion (see: “The Vampire and the Cross”). John’s take on Rice’s writing is succinct and spot-on:

“I finished the novel with the sense of moral contamination that some books leave us with.”

But he doesn’t end there. He concludes his analyses by recounting a review of the 1997 anthology, The Anne Rice Reader: Writers Explore the Universe of Anne Rice, edited by Katharine Ramsland. In his review (never published, unfortunately), Wilson writes, presciently:

In short, there was a profound contradiction at the heart of Rice's work. And so I

Okay, I stopped by Border’s on the way home from a medical followup today, and I picked up Anne Rice’s Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. I’ll soon be diving into it. Already I’m concerned. A phrase from the back of the book jacket caught my eye: the young Jesus Christ is described as a “nature mystic.” Maybe I misread that.

I will follow up with a review as soon as I can make it through the book. Assuming it’s not so laborious that it worsens my illness, that is.

So far, the reviews on Amazon are lightweight and glowing.

See my previous post: “Anne Rice channels the Jesus you never knew…”

[tags]A-N-Roquelaure, Anne-Rampling, Anne-Rice, Howard-Allen-OBrien, Christ-the-Lord, Christopher-Rice, Evangelical, Howard-Allen-Frances-OBrien, jesus, christ, Jesus-Christ, Out-of-Egypt, Vampire-Lestat, literature, fiction, homosexuality, novel, Pentecostal, religious-fiction, review, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375412018[/tags]

So, the word is out: On November 1, 325,000 copies of Anne Rice’s latest literary offering will be hitting the shelves. Big deal, right? Yes. When the main character is no longer a blood-sucking vampire but is, instead, the seven-year old, blood-shedding savior: Jesus Christ. (Listen to an audio excerpt at MSNBC.)

I was clued-in to this only a few hours ago (October 25), but already the blogosphere is heating up over her latest book, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, and the print media is not far behind. Sadly, the print outlets are exploring neither Rice’s 1998 conversion (“return”) to Catholic Christianity, nor the depths of her change—if any. If you’re up to the lackluster press, check out Newsweek|MSNBC’s “The Gospel According to Anne,” Canada.com’s review, “

Not that anyone really cares what’s on my bookshelf, but I do. I always keep wishing I’d kept a reading journal starting back when I was a kid, because, mercy, I’ve read a lot of fiction. And a bit of non-fiction. But the fiction? A tsunami of ink has flowed over my gray cerebral folds and left odd bits of flotsam behind. Sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, international and political intrigue, mysteries, police procedurals, courtroom dramas, and adventure stories have left my head full of strange ideas and weird connections that has my family puzzled at times. Not that I remember the plot lines all that well. Fiction, for me, is a relaxing bubble-bath for the brain—not that I’m a bubble-bath-enjoying sort. But, if I were … well, you’d find me there with a soapy book.

Jennifer and I have tried to catalog just the books I own (forget about the books I

I recently received a copy of The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching: A Comprehensive Resource for Today's Communicators, and have been browsing through it from time to time. Whether you’re a full- or part-time preacher or even if you spend any time at all speaking in front of others as a Christian attempting to bring others to a better understanding of the Bible, or to bring them to a point of decision, you need this book on your shelf. It is the finest compendium of useful preaching/exhortation articles I have ever seen.

[Full disclaimer: This book was written and produced by my employer, Christianity Today, and edited by my good friend and coworker, Craig Brian Larson. But I’m not writing as a shill here. I get absolutely nothing out

It's dated, but I just stumbled across this.

Stanford U. Chi Alpha pastor Glen Davis guffawed at the news and then blogged about a book put out last year by the Assemblies of God's Gospel Publishing House (GPH): Pentecostal Gifts and Ministries in a Postmodern Era, compiled and edited by the General Treasurer of the General Council of the A/G James K. Bridges, with some contributions from past CBC president Maurice Lednicky, and former CBC prof. Opal Reddin.

What's laughable about this, you ask?

Just the irony of a septuagenarian and a few other retirees writing about postmodern ministry.

But, wait, is that really the case? Look at the GPH sell-copy:

For the Pentecostal movement to continue to be an effective instrument in this last day harvest, there must be a renewed emphasis

Donald E. Westlake: The Axe
Read: June 6, 1998

I'm harboring an armed and dangerous man,
a merciless killer, a monster, and he's inside me.

This is a disturbing book, and it's haunted me for the days since I first read it. I'm a veteran fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, murder & suspense reader, so there isn't much that'll make me put a book down in the middle of a page, take a deep breath, exhale and close my eyes. This book did.

Burke Devore is a desperate, angry man, deeply frightened at the prospect of personal and professional worthlessness now that he's been handed the pink slip and "chopped" from middle management at the plant he gave twenty-plus years of his life to.

I've always imagined life is a series of identity crises punctuated by moments

Graziunas, Daina and Starlin, Jim: Predators
Reading: 2/11/98.

Okay, I've got to admit up-front that the premise is hokey: What do you get when a telepath suffers the loss of his family to a serial killer's madness? You get this book—which initially reads like a first-novel, but does pick up somewhere along the way. The plot is adolescent, but the character development isn't too bad, and by the end of the novel I was really into it. Part of it may be a continuing childhood fantasy that I can read minds. (No, I know that I can't, but I think my wife can.... And the cats? Don't get me started.)

This book reminded me that it wouldn't be such a great trip to have that ability. It would be a curse.

The primary protagonist is a little hard to identify in this story;

Ken Follett: The PIllars of the Earth
Read: 2/20/1998.

This is a phenomenal read! While I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat throughout the whole book, it was surprisingly satisfying.

I initially bought this book on the enthusiastic recommendation of a Hasting's clerk. So, I wound up being leery of it for some reason — and then it languished on my shelf for more than a year. Maybe two. So, when I was finally low on reading material I gave it a try. I was very pleased and am now serious about chasing down other Follet works.

The main protagonists are Tom Builder and his stepson Jack Jackson. (Follet is probably not lecturing on the “interesting names for your novel’s characters” tour.) Tom's lifelong's vision is to be appointed master builder of a cathedral church, and everything is

I finished reading an old Stephen King novel, The Dark Half, last night. Wow, what a read!

(I’m not sure I’ll have much time for this post … the kids are about to wake up from their nap and I need to take them shopping. So, I’ll try to be brief.)

I love books about moral good versus evil, and I especially enjoy books featuring writers as protagonists. One of the first I read along these lines, years ago, was Mr. Murder, by Dean Koontz, also an enjoyable read, as I remember it.

In this tale, the principle character, Thad, began writing as a pre-teen, but the creative act somehow awakened some tissue that remained inside his body that was the leftover from a so-called fetus in fetu. (The rare, but real, circumstance where one