Happy Birthday to John Calvin

Jul10

On this date in 1509, John Calvin, or Jean Chauvin, was born in Noyon, Picardie, France. His father was a lawyer who sent young John to the University of Paris at the age of fourteen to study theology. He later changed his area of study to law. Sometime during his university studies, Calvin was exposed to Protestant ideas, and he became a proponent of those ideas to the point that he was forced to flee France along with his mentor, Nicholas Cop, Rector at the University of Paris. He went to Basel, then to Geneva, then to Strasburg, and back to Geneva. He pastored, helped govern, and wrote theology in these places, especially in Geneva, until his death in 1564.

Calvin said:

There is not one little blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make men rejoice.

The fruit of the womb is not born by chance, but is to be reckoned among the precious gifts of God.

Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God.
Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other.

We must see to it that the pulling down of error is followed by the building up of faith.

In the darkness of our miseries, the grace of God shines more brightly.

God . . . makes us rich with the river of his grace . . . so that those things which men call fortuitous events, are so many proofs of divine providence, and more especially of fatherly compassion, furnishing ground of joy to the righteous.

Interesting facts about Calvin (from Wikipedia and other sources):

Calvin took only one meal a day for a decade, but on the advice of his physician, he ate an egg and drank a glass of wine at noon.

Calvin, knowing the benefits of business, was instrumental in founding and developing the silk industry in Geneva.

At the age of twenty-six, Calvin published the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion .

Calvin’s cousin, Pierre Robert, was a translator of the Bible into the French language.

For kids:

This fictionalized biography by Joyce McPherson stays close to the facts of Calvin’s life while adding in some dialogue to make the story come alive. The book includes many of the most important people in Calvin’s life, including Nicholas Cop, Mathurius Cordier, Pierre Viret, William Farel, and Martin Bucer.

 

 

Series I Want to Watch

Jul9

HBO’s version of David McCullough’s biography of John Adams, recommended here.

Slings and Arrows, recommended by Mental Multivitamin.

Cranford and North and South, both series based on books by Mrs. Gaskell.

Brideshead Revisited based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh. I already have the first two episodes of this mini-series, via Blockbuster Online, and I’m just waiting for Eldest Daughter to find time to watch with me.

The new season, fourth I think, of House.

Those ought to take me through the end of the year 2010 at the rate I watch movies.

Song for a Dark Queen by Rosemary Sutcliff

Jul8

Dark Ages . . . Dark Queen . . . Dark History.

There really is veil, or a sort of a blank space in my mind, covering the time between the end of the New Testament, around 100 AD, and the beginning of the Middle Ages, which will always begin in my mind at 1066 AD when The Norman invaders defeated the Saxons in England at the Battle of Hastings.

What happened between those two dates? The Romans sort of ebbed and flowed in response to repeated barbarian invasions and challenges. The Eastern Roman Empire flourished with its center at Constantinople. And in 60 or 61 AD, actually before my cut-off date but still under my historical radar, Boudica, queen of the Iceni tribe of East Anglia, led a group of British tribes in a rebellion against the Romans. Although the rebellion was ultimately unsuccessful, Boudica is still remembered, especially in Britain, and she has become a symbol of courage and female spirit and tenacity. Tennyson wrote a poem called Boadicea (a variant spelling), and Cowper also wrote a poem about the Dark Queen. And a statue of Boudica, commissioned by Victoria’s Prince Albert, stands near Westminster Pier in London.

Also Rosemary Sutcliff, prolific author of historical fiction, especially historical fiction set in ancient Britain, wrote this book, a fictional treatment of Boudica’s life and times. It would be appropriate for teens and young adults who were studying this time period, but it’s a little too bloody and violent for younger children, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the blood and guts are true to actual events since the Romans really did take Boudica’s kingdom, beat her and rape her daughters, after the death of her husband who left the kingdom in his will to Boudica and to the Roman Emperor. The Romans didn’t believe in women rulers, so they sort of ignored the part about Boudica’s inheriting jointly. The Britons requited the Roman rape and pillage with “slaughter by gibbet, fire, or cross,” destroying three Roman cities, including Londinium (London), and seventy or eighty thousand people before the Britons were defeated by the superiorly trained and disciplined Roman troops.

Good book, sad story. Song for a Dark Queen is out of print, by the way. There seems to be a a play based on the novel by Rosemary Sutcliff available at Amazon, but no book.

E. Bird’s review of Song for a Dark Queen at Amazon.

But I’m Reading As Fast As I Can

Jul6

Not only do I have a list two miles long of classic books that I want to read, and not only do I hear about new books and new-to-me authors every day that I want to check out, I keep hearing about favorite authors who now have a new book out, either a stand-alone volume or a sequel, that I must read. For example:

Brett Lott, author of Jewel (Semicolon review here) and A Song I Knew By Heart (Semicolon review here), has a new book, Ancient Highway.. It’s about “the hopes and regrets of three characters from three generations as they reconcile who they are and who they might have been.” And the grandfather is from Texas. How could I not read that one?

Gina at The Point says that “Marilynne Robinson has a sequel to her Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel Gilead coming out in September.” (Semicolon review of Gilead here.)

I still haven’t read Leif Enger’s new book, So Brave Young and Handsome, although I plan to do it soon.

And what’s more, I just discovered Wendell Berry’s novels of Port William, Kentucky. I read Hannah Coulter, and now I’m reading Jayber Crow. And soon I must read every one of the five or ten nvels he’s written.

Reminder

Jul5

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Please note that the second installment in the Semicolon Author Celebration Series takes place on Thursday, July 10th, as we celebrate the birthday of author, pastor, preacher, reformer, and governor John Calvin. If you have something, anything, to say about Mr. Calvin, please write it up and bring your link to the party on the 10th. We’ll be discussing Calvin and all his works then.

Celebrate The Fourth of July

Jul4

Calling all U.S. citizens, how will you celebrate the Fourth of July? We always have a full day: parade in the morning, home to cool off, and fireworks in the afternoon/evening. This year our church is handing out bottles of water for parade-goers. What will you be doing? How does your church or your family celebrate our nation’s founding?

Some picture books for July 4th:
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Paul Revere’s Ride.Illustrated by Ted Rand. Dutton, 1990.
Dalgliesh, Alice.The 4th of July Story. Alladin, 1995. (reprint edition)
Spier, Peter. The Star-Spangled Banner. Dragonfly Books, 1992.
Bates, Katharine Lee. America the Beautiful. Illustrated by Neil Waldman. Atheneum, 1993.
Devlin, Wende. Cranberry Summer.

Also on July 4th:
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born July 4, 1804. Advice from Nathaniel Hawthorne on Blogging.

Stephen Foster was born on July 4, 1826. The PBS series American Experience has an episode on the life of Stephen Foster, author of songs such as Beautiful Dreamer and Oh! Susanna.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day, July 4, 1826, fifty years after adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
Adams’ last words were: “Thomas Jefferson still survives.”
Jefferson’s last words: “Is it the fourth””

Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872. He is supposed to have said, “If you don’t say anything, you won’t be called on to repeat it,” and “I have never been hurt by anything I didn’t say.”
Also, “we do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.”
Amen to that.
More on Calvin Coolidge and the Fourth of July from A Gracious Home.

The poem “America the Beautiful” by Katharine Lee Bates was first published on July 4, 1895.

Poetry and Fine Art Friday: The Flag.

You could make your own fireworks for the Fourth of July. Engineer Husband really used to do this when he was a young adolescent, and I can’t believe his parents let him. He tried to make nitroglycerine once, but he got scared and made his father take it outside and dispose of it! Maybe you should just read about how fireworks are made and then imagine making your own.

On July 4, 1970 Casey Kasem hosted “American Top 40” on radio for the first time. I cannot tell a lie; in high school I spent every Sunday afternoon listening to Casey Kasem count down the Top 40 hits of the week.

I remember the Bicentennial celebration in 1976. On the Fourth of July, 1976, I was on my way to a youth evangelism conference in Dallas/Fort Worth. For a long time after that, through college, I had the T-shirt with bicentennial logo to prove it. Date yourself; where were you in July 1976?

James M. Kushner at Mere Comments recommends David McCullough’s book 1776 for Fourth of July reading. I haven’t read it yet, even though I added it to my list last year at this time.

Last but not least, via Ivy’s Coloring Page Search Engine, I found this page of free coloring sheets for the 4th of July. We liked the fireworks page.

Go celebrate with your own fireworks–or watch some—or something. Happy Independence Day!

Note: this post was edited and reposted from last July.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson

Jul3

If there is any justice in the world, The Adoration of Jenna Fox should should win a Prinz Award for “Excellence in Young Adult Literature.” It’s brilliant. If you want to ensure that you read this novel without any preconceptions or knowledge of the plot, stop here and go get a copy. It’s that good, and that’s all you need to know.

I don’t want to give away any of the plot by giving even a brief synopsis. However, I will tell you a few of the ethical and moral and existential questions and dilemmas that present themselves in the course of the novel.

Like Natalie Babbit’s classic Tuck Everlasting, The Adoration of Jenna Fox asks the question of whether or not people were meant to live forever and what it would mean if they did.

The novel also deals with the ethics of genetic engineering and the problematic application of new bio-technologies in healing and preserving life. What are the unintended side effects of using technology that is imperfectly understood? Should we be genetically engineering our foods and other plants, or are we producing possible mutations that may come back to haunt us in the future?

Then there’s the Frankenstein angle. I happen to be reading Mary Shelley’s little story about human hubris, and the parallels were unmistakable. If science can do something, does that mean that it should? Is it truly possible for human beings to play God and create life, for example human clones, and if we can, should we? And what will be the result of our experimentation, Frankenstein’s monster or a living soul? Where does the soul reside?

The book also deals with identity. What makes me, me? If I have a heart transplant, am I still the same person afterwards? What about that pesky soul again? Where and what is it?

As if that weren’t enough, the book touches on the ethics of euthanasia. Does someone else, even someone who loves me, have the right to keep me alive with the use of technology against my wishes? Do family members have an ethical obligation to keep my body alive, whether or not my mind is still there? How can they know whether my mind is still working or whether it will recover?

And perfectionism is yet another theme. If I spend my life pleasing other people, even the people I love, do I somehow lose my identity?

Not many of these questions are really answered in the course of the story, but the novel does bring these and other dilemmas to light and force the reader to deal with the possible implications of the decisions that are being made in these and other arenas even as I write these words. Do we want to live in bioengineered world, and what would that mean to the way we see human-ness?

Not only does The Adoration of Jenna Fox deal with deeply philosophical and currently relevant issues such as these, but it also does so in beautifully moving language, with a bit of poetry thrown for good measure. Here’s a sample of the poetry:

Pieces

A bit for someone here.
A bit there.
And sometimes they don’t add up to anything whole.
But you are so busy dancing.
Delivering.
You don’t have time to notice.
Or are afraid to notice.
And then one day you have to look.
And it’s true.
All of your pieces fill up other people’s holes.
But they don’t fill
your own.

The poems are adolescent like that, kind of angsty, but good. And they don’t get in the way of the plot which moves at a good pace revealing just enough secrets in each chapter to keep the pages turning. I think this novel will be the best YA novel that I read this year. I can’t imagine anything that would be able to top it.

Other reviews:

Jen Robinson: “It is not to be missed, by anyone from fans of speculative fiction to fans of novels in verse (though only a small part is in verse) to fans of adult “literary fiction”. Don’t read any more reviews – don’t risk spoiling it – just go and get it.”

The Reading Zone: “It’s a frightening look at where our society is headed and what might happen in our future. It raises questions of medical ethics, bioethics, humanity, and how far we are willing to go to save someone we love. The plot doesn’t seem outlandish or out of the realm of possibility. In fact, it seems frighteningly possible.”

Jenna Fox website and book trailer.

My Enemy’s Cradle by Sara Young

Jul3

I picked this book up at the library, and I had no idea until I finished it and read the author blurb at the back that Sara Young is Sara Pennypacker, author of the Clementine books. My Enemy’s Cradle is nothing like Clementine, aside from the fact that a talented author is responsible for both the light-hearted Clementine series for kids and this serious WW II adult novel.

Cyrla is beautiful Anneke’s half-Dutch, half Jewish cousin from Poland. When Anneke becomes pregnant, and her boyfriend, a Nazi soldier, refuses to take responsibility for the baby, she seems to have no choice but to apply for admission to the Lebensborn, a maternity home for girls who are giving birth to German, Aryan babies to fuel the Nazi war machine.

However, Anneke does have choices, and when she makes a tragic one, Cyrla must decide what to do next, how to protect herself, and how to protect her family. Cyrla takes her cousin’s place in the Lebensborn, probably the most dangerous place in German controlled territory for a half-Jewish girl with even more secrets than that of her heritage. The question is whether she can escape before the Germans find out who she really is, and can she trust anyone to help her?

Unlike the Spanish Civil War/World War II book I read earlier this week, My Enemy’s Cradle has a happy ending. Although the characters in the novel suffer terribly, there is an optimistic thread that runs through the novel to the very end. Cyrla is a true heroine, although young and naive at the beginning of the book. Because Cyrla is just a teenager dealing with very adult decisions, I think My Enemy’s Cradle would be perfect for older teens as well as adults, although there is some sexual content, not too graphic.

Really good stuff. Suspenseful and surprising and recommended.

Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom

Jul2

Helen MacInnes, but more lugubrious and hopeless.

Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, same setting a few years later, but more complex sentences and British characters.

Alistair Maclean, with less action and more dialogue.

John LeCarre, but set in Spain and less confusingly plotted. (Semicolon review of one of LeCarre’s novels here.

I picked up Winter in Madrid at the library because I read two of Mr. Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake mysteries and enjoyed them very much. (Semicolon review here.) This book is not a mystery, but rather as I indicated by my opening comparisons, it’s a spy novel set in the winter of 1940 as Britain is enduring Hitler’s bombing blitz and hoping that Spain under Generalissimo Franco will not join the Axis powers in declaring war on the Allies.

Harry Brett, the protagonist of the novel, is a survivor of Dunkirk, recently recovered from shell shock and hysterical deafness, who finds himself in Spain working for the Secret Service and spying on an old (public) school friend. That’s public in the British sense, private upper class snob school for us Americans. The friend, Sandy Forsyth, who is the subject of Brett’s somewhat clumsy spying efforts, is a businessman involved in a project that may or may not affect Franco’s decision about whether or not to enter the war. Hence the British interest in Sandy and his project.

The most interesting part of the novel for me was the way that Sansom showed how the belief system of each of the characters in the novel was torn down and destroyed or at least undermined by the realities of life and especially of war. Harry is a conservative, a public school/Cambridge graduate who believes in honor and in traditional British upper class values. But the complications and the sheer messiness of the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and of being a spy make Harry’s value system at first difficult to follow and later impossible.

Harry’s friend Bernie is a dedicated Communist, probably the most idealistic of the characters in the novel. He, too, becomes disillusioned and confused when he sees his beloved Party under Stalin in alliance with the Fascists that Bernie just lost his freedom and nearly his life in fighting. He manages to hang on to his socialist ideals and his belief in the Communist Party and the coming day of socialist brotherhood, but it’s a confused persistence in a futile hope.

Then, there’s Sandy the dedicated rebel against authority who believes mostly in himself and his destiny to be the “bad boy” who always somehow comes out on top. Sandy doesn’t like anyone telling him what to do, and yet he works with the Facists in Spain who are the most authoritarian and controlling partners in business a man could possibly have.

Christianity, too, is portrayed as corrupt and bankrupt as the Catholic Church and its priests work with the Fascist regime to oppress the people and control them. In the historical note at the end of the book, Mr. Sansom says, “I do not think my picture of the Spanish Church at the period is unfair; they were involved root and branch with the policy of a violent regime in its most brutal phase and those like Father Eduardo who found it hard to square their consciences seem to have been few and far between.”

What Mr. Sansom does best in this novel is create a sense of place and time, showing the confusion and hopelessness of a Spain that’s coming out of the chaos of civil war into the brutal tyranny and suppression of a Fascist dictatorship. Franco did bring order to a country that was a killing field before his Nationalists won the civil war, but the question of whether or not the “cure” was worth the injustice that imposed it is still open. In fact, one of the questions that the novel comes back to time and again is: Can cruelty and injustice be used to fight greater cruelty and injustice? What happens to the character and moral sense of those who use deception and brute force to fight against evil? If there is such a thing as a just war, then must we use all the weapons at our disposal to fight that war, even the weapons of lies and violence and treachery? If we don’t fight withall our might and without mercy, then aren’t we enabling those who are truly dedicated to evil to win and to oppress and murder others?

Winter In Madrid is described on the back cover as an “action-packed thriller,” but the pace of the novel doesn’t live up to that description. It’s really much slower and more thoughtful than a typical thriller, full of moral dilemma and brilliant characterization. The winter setting is a metaphor for the bleakness of the entire plot, and although I usually don’t like novels that end with very little hope or faith for the future, the ending felt right for this novel. It’s a Candide-ish sort of ending in which the main characters, those who are left, decide to cultivate their gardens as the world moves on from catastrophe to catastrophe.

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Works for Me Wednesday: Santa Fe Chicken

Jul1

Shannon is having a special themed edition of Works for Me Wednesday featuring recipes with five or less ingredients.

Here’s mine:

Combine the following in your crockpot:
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn
1/2 cup salsa

After stirring, add:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup more salsa

Cook on low for 3 hours. Then add,
1 4 oz. or 8 oz. (depending on how much you like cream cheese) block of cream cheese.

Cook one more hour. Serve over rice with flour tortillas.

That’s five ingredients if you don’t count the rice or the tortillas. My kids like this dish with both rice and tortillas. So did I cheat or not?