Book Review: The Major Works by Anselm of Canterbury

The Major Works by Anselm of Canterbury
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Throughout the Middle Ages priests and theologians pondered the great questions about the Christian faith and this is a compilation one of the major thinkers of the time. The Major Works of Anselm of Canterbury brings together all of the important works—and some fragments of miscellaneous writing—of this Doctor of the Church on numerous issues to make sense of his faith.

Containing 11 works, this volume explores such questions as relating to the Christian faith. However except for Anselm’s first major work, “Monologian” in which he sets out to prove God exists through reason than faith, almost everything in this book is either bordering on heretical or barely comprehensible at best. Such works as “De Grammatico”, “The Truth, and “Free Will” quickly make no sense in their dialogue form while “On the Fall of the Devil” appears to indicate that God created evil which is frankly should have resulted in a one-way ticket bonfire for Anselm. Anselm’s attempt to better articulate his thoughts of the “Monologian” in the “Proslogion” were a disaster of incomprehensibility. The three works “On the Incarnation of the Word”, “Why God Became Man”, and “On the Virgin Conception and Original Sin” were insightful in a few spots though exposed the fallacy of original sin even though Anselm might have thought he had validate it. The two other major pieces were so disappointing that it is best not to mention them by name.

After reading St. Augustine’s City of God, I hoped for a clear understanding of medieval theological thought in this book as well. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement, in fact even though “Monologian” was tougher than I expected I wasn’t discouraged but as I continued reading it became harder to read. On top of that, the rise of so many unbiblical theological statements that Anselm “proves” through reason then “backs up” through scripture was getting hard to take. In fact, the worst part of “Monologian” was Anselm attempting to prove the immortality of the soul and failing completely. The only other positive thing I can say, except for my general liking of “Monologian”, is that any notes of the text were put in the footers and not in the back of the book like other Oxford World’s Classics editions I read have done.

The Major Works contains serious theological and philosophical works by Anselm of Canterbury that the honest reader will find barely comprehensible and at times almost heretical. Do not waste your time with this book unless you are a very serious scholar.

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Review: Wisdom by Richard Lee Byers

Wisdom by Richard Lee Byers
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

For months rumors have reached King Odysseus of Ithaca that the natural order is falling apart and now it has finally reach his home. Taking a ship to Delphi, Odysseus finds the shrine abandoned and the Pythia alone unable to focus her abilities. Killing an owl—which offered itself to be sacrificed—to enhance the vapors’ qualities, Odysseus and the Seer learn that the celebrated Judgment of Paris did not end with Paris giving the golden apple to Aphrodite but Athene. When given his reward, Paris realizes he wasn’t given all the wisdom Athene had and forces the goddess to give it all to him. The result is Paris challenging the gods and winning, transforming all who challenged him into beasts but unable to keep the cosmos functioning due to his ever growing madness. Odysseus travels to Olympus by way of the Underworld, asking Persephone’s permission to Hades’ chariot, horses, and helm. But as he is about to strike Paris, the madman stops him only to find out later that he didn’t see Odysseus real plan which results in his defeat and the restoration of the gods. I have hung on to Legends: Tales from the Eternal Archives for almost 20 years because of this reinterpretation of Greek legend. This is one of my favorite short stories and if there are any flaws in it, I overlook them because I love this story so much.

Review: Bast's Talon by Janet Pack

Bast's Talon by Janet Pack
My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The High Priestess of Bast, Katiri-Maat, goes to yet another meeting with the Pharaoh Khafre and attempts to convince him to dedicate the limestone outcropping in front of his pyramid to her goddess. However, even though she relays a “true dream” from Bast to the Pharaoh the other priests and priestess as well as the Pharaoh’s advisor bring up other gods to be honored. That night Katiri-Maat has a troubling dream and is wakened up by a young acolyte scared that all the temple’s cat are missing. Realizing what the goddess is doing, Katiri-Maat returns to the palace just before sunrise in full regalia along with the large statue of Bast to find all the cats in the city in the palace courtyard making everyone miserable. The Pharaoh concedes to Bast and gives the order for the Sphinx to be sculpted. Overall I did like this story though the ending of the cats mobbing the palace was a bit cartoony, though I was less forgiving of setting the story in the Middle Kingdom when the pyramids were only constructed in the Old Kingdom.

Review: The Wisdom of Solomon by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Wisdom of Solomon by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
My rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Through the eyes of an 8-year old, the story of King Solomon handling of the case of the two harlots is seen from a different angle. The retelling of the Biblical story is from an old woman remembering when in she was a child how she met her father—Solomon—because of her midwife mother’s attempt to stop a prostitute from killing her children only for the king’s guards to arrest both because of the bizarre situation they came upon. Though the story has elements from the famous story, Rusch changes things around in such a way as to suggest how real events become legends, but it’s up to the readers own opinion on if this story or the Biblical narrative is correct.

Book Review: Laying Down the Law by Keith Augustus Burton

Laying Down the Law by Keith Augustus Burton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the most contentious issues debated between Christian theologians is “the Law” and its place within Christianity. In Laying Down the Law, Keith Augustus Burton looks at the misconceptions surrounding God’s Law and puts the spotlight on it’s real meaning, love. Through 157 pages Burton tackles such topics as legalism, dispensationalism, the meaning of Paul’s writing on the Law, and so much more over 13 chapters using Bible verses, the culture of biblical times, and personal stories that begin and end each chapter to illustrate the topic covered. After reading this book, one will see God’s Law in whole new light.

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Book Review: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The hope of a prosperous future of human colonists on an alien world who for generations have believed they were looked out for and ruled over by the gods, is one named—among other things—Sam. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny follows the struggle of one individual to throw off the tyrannical rulers of a colonized world posing as Hindu deities that he’s known for years and the strange allies he makes along the way.

The deathgod and technological mastermind Yama finds the soul of Sam from the ionosphere of the colonized planet that remnants from Earth settled centuries before. Sam has through numerous names and plans slowly undermined the rule of ‘Heaven’, those crewmembers who over the centuries have fought the indigenous lifeforms of the world to make a place for man and then ruling them as gods as they used genetic manipulation and technology to gain powers. Though not originally opposed to his fellow crewmembers, their sudden radical shift from benevolence to tyranny makes him rebel. Through the years, Sam becomes the Buddha and as a way to undermine the hope of rebirth, then he unleashes the Rakasha that he had bound through his powers, then when given the opportunity he spreads his message in the Celestial City of the gods before being “killed”, then after stealing a body from another god about to be reincarnated he kills two high leaders then leads an allied army to battle the gods in which he loses and his soul is sent to the ionosphere. After his return Sam leads another army, this time in league with the gods to face an insane crewmember with a zombie army that ultimately leads to Sam’s goal of the colonists allowed to determine their own fates.

Zelazny’s story explored some really big ideas of technology, politics, and religion throughout the book that intertwined with one another as the narrative progressed to build the world. Yet at many times the world wasn’t built enough and leads confusion at important parts of the story that hurt the overall quality of the book. While Sam and a few characters are developed, many others really aren’t which hurts the overall quality of the book as well. But the biggest personal frustration was that the two big battles of the book aren’t impressive as the language wanted to give the impression of, it was a letdown after the long buildup of Sam’s plan. These three issues are both good and bad for the book, which makes me feel that if this book had been longer to develop more of the characters, the description of the technology, and more battle details.

Lord of Light is based on the imaginative idea of human colony being ruled by fellow humans who pose as Hindu deities and a man who decides to let the colonist develop on their own. Roger Zelazny’s writing style isn’t perfect and while I have problems with the book, if I had choice to reread the book.

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Review: Final Conquest by Dennis M. Kiernan

Final Conquest by Dennis M. Kiernan
My rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Relating the final days of Genghis Khan through the eyes of a scribe, Final Conquest relates how the conqueror and his Mongol army find themselves traveling in a strange land under strange skies before scouts find a city. After sending contingents to begin battle that never return, the Khan and the scribe ride to find his men just sitting around when a mysterious princess invites the conqueror to destroy the city and then goes with her into it. The scribe doesn’t know how long he waited but the Khan returns in the company of three spirits and looks like he has been weeping. After returning to the army, they journey away from the city and find themselves back in familiar territory but the Khan’s spirit seems broken and dies soon after.

A short piece of only 6 pages, this story just felt off to me and frankly I was glad it was short because if it had been longer my rating would have continued in a downward direction.

Review: The Theft of Destiny by Josepha Sherman

The Theft of Destiny
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A retelling of a Mesopotamian myth, the story begins with chief god Enlil standing upon his mountain watching has his children returning home with some strange beast (the description make it out to be a griffin). The beast represents itself to Enlil, calling itself Anzu and asking to serve Enlil. After consulting Tablets of Destiny and not seeing Anzu within them, Enlil asks Anzu to guard the room the Tablets are housed in. Anzu accepts but as the point-of-view switches, we learn that Anzu believes Enlil is a condescending jerk and when he goes to take a bath Anzu steals the Tablets. We switch to the POV of Ninurta who snuck into the council of the gods who are debating what to do then many counsel patience, he decides in his young cocky godhood to do something since the adults won’t. Taking his bow and quiver of arrows, he attempts to sneak up on Anzu but the beast wasn’t fooled. Anzu blocks Ninurta’s arrows and mocks him as he hides to revise his strategy which is to take the older god’s advice, patience, as he realizes that Anzu is mad. Ninurta then forces Anzu to keep on using the Tablets’ power before exhausting himself enough that he is too slow for Ninurta’s last arrow.

Though a short 8 pages, a lot is packed into the story but the quality of writing just keeps the momentum going until you’re stocked that the story is over.

Review: Why There Are White Tigers by Jane M. Lindskold

Why There Are White Tigers by Jane M. Lindskold
My rating: 4 out of 5

P’an Ku hatches from the Cosmic Egg as he grows separating the two halves of the shell into Heaven and Earth, he decides that assistance is needed to organize the divide order from Chaos.  P’an Ku creates Dragon, Phoenix, Chi’lin, Tortoise, and Tiger then orders them to explore everything, return, and tell him what is happening.  After realizing that only three of the five have wings, he attempts to remedy that only to accidently give Tortoise Snake for a tail and Tiger wishes not to be changed.  As time passes, Tiger is last to every meeting and soon P’an Ku starts dividing up honors to his five assistants only Tiger is increasingly left out.  Getting ambitious Tiger tricks Chi’lin and traps her before heading off to meet with P’an Ku during which he gets many honors but Tortoise and Snake are suspicious and discover Tiger’s ruse.  Tiger submits to P’an Ku who decides to place Chi’lin above the others and be his messenger, but changes Tiger’s coat from yellow & black to white & black as a reminder to curb his ambition.

Based on the fragmentary stories of the Chinese, or East Asian, creation mythology, fit the anthology’s Legends moniker while also being a good beginning piece to the collection.

Book Review: Game Plan by Thomas J. Dygard

Game Plan by Thomas J. Dygard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Barton High Tigers’ head coach is injured and everyone is worried who’ll be the coach for Friday’s upcoming game, enter the student manager. Game Plan by Thomas J. Dygard follows Beano Hatton as he is propelled from nobody student manager to acting coach with all the pressures of school work and getting players to follow his lead, all while figuring out how to actually coach and prepare for a game.

Except for the first chapter, the narrative follows Beano Hatton beginning for being called to the principal’s office for the first time in his life—though not the last he’d have that week—and being asked to coach the Tigers football team against rivals Carterville. Except for telling his best friend Danny to cover for him as student manager, Beano keeps quiet until the Principal gives the team the news and hands it over to Beano. What follows is an awkward, stressful week as Beano figures out how Coach Pritchard scouts and makes up game plans while at the same time attempting to get the team to follow his lead, easier said than done with the star quarterback having an issue with him. But once Friday night comes and the ball is kicked, Beano has to manage the game.

From kickoff to the final whistle, Dygard writes a convincing flow of a football game which after the narrative build-up before and through the game of Beano making coaching decisions makes for a thrilling last third of the book. The first two-thirds of the book reads like a made-for-television young adult movie, but actually good. Though some of Dygard’s dialogue and words choices are a little off, they would be far superior to what one would hear and see on the aforementioned movie. The only other fault would be Dygard basically not having Coach Pritchard not have any notes on upcoming opponents which sounds far-fetched even for a little town high school coach with a staff of one.

Game Plan is one of those young adult sports books that is simply a good read that can be done in a day because it draws you in and frankly is nearly perfect for a book of its genre. Thomas J. Dygard hits all the right narrative keys to make this book keep the reader interested in how a nobody student manages to gain enough confidence of the football team to lead them through the last game of the season.

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Book Review: Tournament Upstart by Thomas J. Dygard

Tournament Upstart by Thomas J. Dygard
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A small-town basketball team is playing against teams from the big cities looking to shock the state of Arkansas. Tournament Upstart by Thomas J. Dygard follows a little Class B team that’s decided to play against the big boys of Class A for the state championship, unfortunately not only do they have those teams to contend with but also their own internal struggles.

Taken from the perspective of their 23-year old rookie coach Floyd Bentley, the Cedar Grove Falcons arrive at Talbott State University trying not to be overawed by the big arena or facing the defending state champions in the quarterfinals. But after their upset victory, season-long tensions among the players boil up to the surface after Floyd’s inexperience with such a big event occurs. Over the next two days, Floyd attempts to get everyone back on the same page on the team even as they achieve another upset and then battle for the state championship that comes down to the final shot.

While the game action is well written, the basic set up at the beginning of the book—primarily how a team could go up a Class and the tournament still have the correct amount of teams—quickly raised questions followed closely by Floyd’s “mistake” which didn’t make much sense if you looked hard at it. The internal divisions were not bad, but they did strain the narrative somewhat.

Overall Tournament Upstart had a good premise but the young adult narrative quickly falls apart if looked at too closely. It’s not bad, but I’ve read other of Dygard’s work that I find better.


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Book Review: Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry

Kings & Queens of England & Scotland by Peter Somerset Fry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry is a 96-page concise reference book about the monarchs of England, Scotland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. Though is primarily focused on the monarchs of England (and successor unions) with each ruler getting their own individual article from 1066-to-present, while the Scottish monarchs were only briefly covered in comparison. Not all the information given in monarch articles is correct, at least to those readers well versed in history, but overall the book is a good reference book.

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Book Review: William Shakespeare's Jedi the Last by Ian Doescher

William Shakespeare's Jedi the Last: Star Wars' Part the Eighth by Ian Doescher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The fallout from the First Order’s destruction of the New Republic’s capital and the Resistance’s destruction of her enemy’s superweapon even as they look to bring Luke Skywalker back in William Shakespeare’s Jedi the Last by Ian Doescher. Beginning almost immediately after the previous film, the middle installment of the sequel trilogy finds the First Order looking to takeout the remnant of their opponents only this adaptation is not on screen or a book but on the stage in Elizabethan prose as Shakespeare would have written.

Adapting The Last Jedi was definitely the hardest Star Wars film that Doescher had to deal with because of the how awful the Rian Johnson written-direction film is. There is only so much Doescher could do to make this adaptation to make it readable, unlike The Phantom of Menace in which he only had to develop Jar Jar Binks. He had to salvage so many poorly written characters, including those long established like Leia and Luke as those newly introduced, that to even have this published in a timely manner meant he could only polish them so much. Since this is a review of the adaptation and not the film, I will applaud the excellent work Doescher did in making the at times bad dialogue into some more passable, the continuation of footnoting translations of Chewbecca’s few lines, and great narratives for the fight scenes. However I must also commend Doescher for the wonderful easter eggs in reference to James Bond, Rogue One, and yes the sly acknowledgements that Johnson underdeveloped or ruined so many characters in particular Rey.

Jedi the Last is the most controversial film of the franchise and Ian Doescher did the best job he could in making it into a passable stage play in the style of William Shakespeare. As a result my rating is celebration of Doescher’s hardwork and like the rest of the Star Wars fandom we look for to what he must deal with in Episode IX.

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Book Review: The Book of Acts by Wilson Paroschi

The Book of Acts by Wilson Paroschi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Acts of the Apostles follows the men who in three decades totally changed the world by spreading the gospel of Christ first in Jerusalem then Judea and Samaria and finally to the entire world. Wilson Paroschi’s The Book of Acts is a supplement for the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide (3rd Quarter) of the same name and at 128 pages is not intended to be commentary on Acts, but it is a valuable study guide regardless if you starting the Bible with or without the corresponding Sabbath School Quarterly. And for further study, Paroschi ends the book with a list of recommendations for further study of not only Acts and the events that take place but the early Church as well.

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Book Review: The Histories by Tacitus

The Histories by Tacitus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The death of Nero begins a Roman bloodletting that Augustus had thought he had completely ended as four men will within a year claim the title Emperor. The Histories by Tacitus follows the aftermath of Nero’s death as a succession of men claimed the throne until the Flavians emerge to return the Roman Peace.

Tacitus begins his work with those who had prospered under Nero worrying for themselves while the rest of the populace celebrated and setting the stage for the eventual assassination for Galba and the rise of Otho, who the former had passed over as his chosen successor. Yet at the time of his death Galba was facing a mutiny on the German frontier that had installed Vitellius as their choice as emperor, a task that Otho took to quash and retain his own throne. The invasion of Italy by Vitellius’ legions brought war to the core of empire for the first time in almost a century and witnessed the defeat of Otho’s forces before he committed suicide. The rise of Vitellius brought Vespasian, the leader of the legions fighting the Jewish War, into the fray as he accepted the proclamation of his legions as emperor and soon found the supporters of Otho and others joining him. After the crushing defeat of his forces, Vitellius attempted to abdicate but the Guards wouldn’t let him resulting in his death by Vespasian’s soldiers. On top of civil war in Italy and the final phase of the Jewish War under Titus, a Gallo-German uprising at first claiming support for Vespasian became an invasion and rebellion that took numerous legions to suppress and the aftermath would be alluded to in Tacitus’ own Germany.

Although The Histories are incomplete, from the beginning Tacitus brings his aristocratic ideology and politics in focus early by showing only someone with political realism and firm hand on the legions can prevent civil wars and the rioting of the masses. The writing is quick-paced, going hand in hand with the rapid succession of events but Tacitus does give excellent portraits on the prime actors in this historical drama the played across the Roman world. The only thing a historian would have against Tacitus would be the twisting of the chronology to suit his own purposes. Yet like Agricola and Germany, my biggest complaint is how Oxford World Classics edition is structured with the Notes at the very end of the piece and making the reader use two bookmarks so they could go back and forth.

The Histories, the first of Tacitus’ two large scale historical works, shows the horrors of civil war and the according to Tacitus the dangers of leader who cannot control the legions and masses. Even though the we are missing over two-thirds of the overall work, the portion we have that covers the Year of Four Emperors shows the breakdown of society in vacuum of strong leadership that is important not only in that time but throughout all of history including down to our own time.

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Book Review: Joseph Bates by George R. Knight

Joseph Bates: The Real Founder of Seventh-Day Adventism by George R. Knight
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While those who would eventually form the Seventh-day Adventist Church were Millerites, only one was influential in both that his work after the Great Disappointment would standout and provide the underpinnings of the eventual largest Adventist denomination. Joseph Bates: The Real Founder of Seventh-day Adventism by George R. Knight is a comprehensive look at one of the most important men in the Adventism movement before and after October 1844.

Beginning with a young boy looking for adventure as a sailor, Knight fully covers the life of Joseph Bates until his death as a senior statesman of the Church he helped to found still looking to serve Christ. In covering Bates career at sea, Knight pulls out traits—both potentially benefital and harmful—that would serve him as he preached the soon coming of Christ as part of the Millerite movement and later his development of Sabbatarian Adventism. After retiring, Bates who had already shown a keen interest in reform, firstly himself and then his own ship’s crew, launched himself into numerous reform movements until he heard Advent message of William Miller and seeing it as the ultimate reform movement wholeheartedly went to spread the good news. Though not a primary leader, he was a major secondary leader within the Millerites that both chaired conferences and went out preaching. After the Great Disappointment of October 1844, Bates began studying and joined those Adventists that believed something did occur though not the fanatics that tainted this group of post-Disappointment Millerites. It is at this point in which Knight carefully covers Bates life over a decade, though focused on a four year span in particular, in which Bates became both the first theologian and then first historian of Sabbatarian Adventism and would lay the foundations of essentially all major doctrines that set the Seventh-day Adventist Church apart from other denominations. Knight covers Bates relationship with both James and Ellen White in full during this period and after as the trio would guide the “little flock” over the next two decades until his death.

In approximately 220 pages of text and reference, Knight use Bates’ own autobiography as well as research first discovered others including two of his own students to give the reader a full sense of the life of Joseph Bate as can be expected. Though the book is not strictly chronological, Knight structures the book in such a way as to give an overview in a certain period of Bates life in one chapter and in the subsequent one focus on a particular aspect during that period with it most typically being theological in nature. This keeps the book engaging for the general reader and not getting them bogged down or overwhelmed with detail of having a strictly chronological book from beginning to end. Yet while these choices by Knight create a very good and readable book, there just seemed to be something off with his writing that made me feel that it was up to other books that he had authored.

Joseph Bates: The Real Founder of Seventh-day Adventism is a very good book for those, whether Seventh-day Adventists or not, looking to understand the history of denomination that Bates helped to found. As the preeminent Seventh-day Adventist historian, George R. Knight presents the Bates the man of both virtues and flaws and how he shaped the Advent movement. I highly recommend this book for those interested in SDA Church history.

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