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Obama, The Dark Knight, Convocation
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I'm not one for book reviews these days, but I just finished "The Faith of Barack Obama" by Stephen Mansfield and thought I should write a little bit about it. Mansfield is an evangelical, but his book attempts to paint an honest picture of Obama's faith, and almost succeeds in this regard. It's obvious that Mansfield has suspicions about Obama, for Mansfield it's impossible to reconcile the idea that (Obama's words here) "there are many paths to the same place and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people." For you and me (generally, depends on what blog you are reading this on) Obama's stance is an obvious no brainer, but for many on the far right it's an idea that will never gain traction.
Much of the book is positive. Mansfield understands the motivations that drive liberal Christians, the desires for social justice and welfare. He even understands the African-American Church, and writes movingly about Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Trinity Church. By the end of the book it feels as if he is rooting for Obama, that by electing Obama we might heal some of the divisions in our country, but there are also horrible passages that had me throwing the book on the ground in disgust. (Isn't that just like religion though?) A look at John McCain's religious journey ends with a comparasin to Obama "His opponent (I assume he means Obama here) invite the press into Bible studies and distribute pages from spiritual journals written at transforming retreats. McCain will look like George Washington praying at Valley Forge. His opponent will hold a press conference after buying a personalized Bible at the mall." Reading that last sentence almost made me lose my lunch, absolutely unnecessary, and it helped to ruin what could have been a great book.
There's also an overly long and unnecessary passage about whether the Muslim world will label Obama an apostate. Obama did visit some mosques as a boy, but he never went there without his step-father, and he did all of that while going to Catholic school and growing up with his atheist mother. Mansfield makes all of that very clear, but it almost feels like he's trying to scare people about how Obama will be seen in the Muslim world. There is a chance that he could be seen as a former-Muslim by Muslims, which would make him an apostate due to his Christian faith, but the chance of this is so remote that it doesn't need to be brought up.
I did end up liking Obama more after reading this book. There is a place for religion among those of us on the left, and the actual teachings of Christ read like a guidebook for liberalism, and we should embrace those people and build bridges with them in hopes of healing our country.
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In other news I've now seen The Dark Knight five times, it's simply the best movie ever made.
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I got back from the Starwood festival a few weeks ago and it's still percolating in my head. It was a good time, and like Pantheacon and Convocation, it was over far too quickly. As usual, it was the people who made the festival, and I'm blessed that I've made so many friends there over the past six years. Speaking of festivals, I'm up on the Convocation website (www.convocation.org) and will be doing a bunch of new workshops there this February. I'll also be back at Pantheacon, hopefully doing two of those same new workshops, or maybe something old, I have no idea yet really. Convocation will see me debuting both the Aphrodite workshop and one on the history of the Devil. Satan certainly isn't a big box of laughs, but Aphrodite is a bedfull of delights, I certainly have diverse interests.
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That's about all I've got for now. I've been lax with the writing, sorry about that. When I tore up my shoulder it got in the way of typing for about two months. Now that I'm all on the mend, I should start doing a little better.
Much of the book is positive. Mansfield understands the motivations that drive liberal Christians, the desires for social justice and welfare. He even understands the African-American Church, and writes movingly about Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Trinity Church. By the end of the book it feels as if he is rooting for Obama, that by electing Obama we might heal some of the divisions in our country, but there are also horrible passages that had me throwing the book on the ground in disgust. (Isn't that just like religion though?) A look at John McCain's religious journey ends with a comparasin to Obama "His opponent (I assume he means Obama here) invite the press into Bible studies and distribute pages from spiritual journals written at transforming retreats. McCain will look like George Washington praying at Valley Forge. His opponent will hold a press conference after buying a personalized Bible at the mall." Reading that last sentence almost made me lose my lunch, absolutely unnecessary, and it helped to ruin what could have been a great book.
There's also an overly long and unnecessary passage about whether the Muslim world will label Obama an apostate. Obama did visit some mosques as a boy, but he never went there without his step-father, and he did all of that while going to Catholic school and growing up with his atheist mother. Mansfield makes all of that very clear, but it almost feels like he's trying to scare people about how Obama will be seen in the Muslim world. There is a chance that he could be seen as a former-Muslim by Muslims, which would make him an apostate due to his Christian faith, but the chance of this is so remote that it doesn't need to be brought up.
I did end up liking Obama more after reading this book. There is a place for religion among those of us on the left, and the actual teachings of Christ read like a guidebook for liberalism, and we should embrace those people and build bridges with them in hopes of healing our country.
-------
In other news I've now seen The Dark Knight five times, it's simply the best movie ever made.
-----------
I got back from the Starwood festival a few weeks ago and it's still percolating in my head. It was a good time, and like Pantheacon and Convocation, it was over far too quickly. As usual, it was the people who made the festival, and I'm blessed that I've made so many friends there over the past six years. Speaking of festivals, I'm up on the Convocation website (www.convocation.org) and will be doing a bunch of new workshops there this February. I'll also be back at Pantheacon, hopefully doing two of those same new workshops, or maybe something old, I have no idea yet really. Convocation will see me debuting both the Aphrodite workshop and one on the history of the Devil. Satan certainly isn't a big box of laughs, but Aphrodite is a bedfull of delights, I certainly have diverse interests.
-----------------
That's about all I've got for now. I've been lax with the writing, sorry about that. When I tore up my shoulder it got in the way of typing for about two months. Now that I'm all on the mend, I should start doing a little better.
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