What I Just Finished

From the Back Cover
Does having faith mean abandoning reason? It's easy to get that impression. Still, it seems reasonable that a supremely intelligent God would want you to use your God-given intellect on your spiritual journey as much as in any other aspect of your life. Faith may not stand on rational thinking alone, but a solid faith should walk hand in hand with intellectual integrity. Does it really matter what I believe? What is the relationship between faith and knowledge? Why are there so many religions? Do all paths lead to the same God? This book helps you sort through the questions, objections, and concerns you can't help but raise. A Search for What Makes Sense will help you think your way clearly and honestly to answers that satisfy because they're your answers---conclusions you've arrived at personally without manipulation, coercion, or game-playing. For faith to exist and grow it's got to make sense---good sense, carefully-thought-out sense. And chances are it does. FINDING FAITH The Finding Faith books A Search for What Makes Sense and A Search for What Is Real don't try to tell you what to believe; they are guides in learning how to believe. If you think the spiritual journey requires turning your back on honesty and intellectual integrity, these two companion volumes will speak to both your mind and your soul.

Awakening, or Not

We started oral book reviews this week in my Honors Critical Thinking class. I'm having only two students present each class period. That way, the class has time to respond, discuss, and ask questions. I try not to micromanage the discussions, to sit back and let the critical thinking take its course, stepping in only when I deem necessary. And, yes, that's terribly hard to do.

This week, one of the students reviewed Sue Monk Kidd's The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, and she did an excellent job. She summarized briefly but adequately, discussed points of agreement and disagreement, ended with a recommendation--all the things a book review is supposed to do.

The problem came in the discussion after her review. At first, all discussion centered around Kidd's book. Some students asked for background or further information, and I provided it. Some made insightful comments about the main points of the review, sparking further discussion. Then, out of the blue, one student started in on Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening. Worst book I've ever read, he said. It didn't make sense, he said. I mean, we have to be careful what we wake up to, and just because women don't like something doesn't give them the right to do whatever they want.

I tried to explain the historical context, the nuances of the book, and of Edna's character in particular. His response? Edna should have realized that God set up a patriarchal culture to protect women and just "get over it."

He was saved by the bell.

Suggestions, Anyone?

This semester, I'm teaching a Critical Thinking and Speaking class for the Honors College. One of the assignments is to do a book review, and I gave the students a list of books from which they can choose. The list contains non-fiction, memoirs, novels, theological texts, philosophical texts, meditations; no limits on genre. The only criteria is that they are well-written and have caused me to think critically. I might agree with the author, and I might not. That's not the point. Expanding my mind is.

Here's the list for this semester. I have a few books on my nightstand, like Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickle and Dimed, and Stephanie Paulsell's Honoring the Body that I may choose to add after I've read them. Any suggestions for the future?


• Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• Receiving the Day by Dorothy C. Bass
• The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
• For The Time Being by Annie Dillard
• Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• She Who Is by Elizabeth Johnson
• Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
• Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
• The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• Walking on Water by Madeline L’Engle
• Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen
• Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey
• Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
• Technopoly by Neil Postman*
• Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
• He is There and He is Not Silent by Francis Shaffer
• How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer
• An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor
• Speaking of Faith by Krista Tippett
• Night by Elie Wiesel