Tag Archives: History

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Book Review – Jefferson’s America by Julie M. Fenster

Jefferson’s America by Julie M. FensterI have stated before that I am a history nut, and that I love reading history, especially early American history. One of my current projects, in fact, is reading biographies of each president, chronologically. So when I saw Jefferson’s America, I was immediately intrigued and grabbed a copy.

However, I was not as impressed as I had hoped to be. While the period covered was one of perhaps the most fascinating times in American history, I found Fenster’s recounting of these times and events to be somewhat dull and academic in nature. I was disappointed by that. In an age where our imagination is easily captured by the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing, this account of early American history could have been presented in a better way as to captivate and hold the attention of most readers more completely.

The back cover states boldly that “history comes alive in this entertaining account.” I could only wish this were true. This book took me longer to read than most do, simply because I found it the exact opposite of it’s claims. Make no mistake, the events recounted within were accurate and detailed. They just weren’t told in a way that held my attention for very long. I found it hard to finish this book.

Because it was accurate and detailed, I will recommend it, with reservation, as long as you know going into it that it is academic and dry. If you are looking for a more sensational reading of American history, this is not the book for you.

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Book Review – The Tunnels by Greg Mitchell

The TunnelsThe Cold War era is a period of history I know very little about. I have read extensively on earlier periods of the twentieth century, and lived through much of the latter portion of it. But that period covering the 1950s, 1960s and into the 1970s has always been of lesser interest to me.

That changed somewhat when I was able to read The Tunnels, a history of the earliest years of the Berlin Wall. The Tunnels focuses on the escapes from East Berlin to the West, and those primarily achieved by using tunnels dug under the Wall and the death strip that buffered it in the East.

While many attempts were made, only a few succeeded, and only a couple really succeeded well. One such was a tunnel that was financed and filmed by NBC, in order to produce a documentary that would raise American awareness of the trials that East Berliners faced under oppressive rule. With the Cuban crisis looming in the Caribbean, the last thing the Kennedy Administration needed was another crisis in Europe. As a result, the media was pressured to hold off, or even to squelch this documentary and others like it.

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Seeing Christ In The Book Of Job

One of the most intriguing aspects of the book of Job is that God steps in and takes part in the discussion. This is unique in the pages of the Old Testament, at least in this fashion. And it provides some good insight into the nature of God’s character and activity on behalf of men.

Job

God shows up to the discussion between Job and his friends. And when he does, he gives quite a speech, so long that it covers five chapters in Job, chapters 38-42.

Right away, we can see the infinite contrast between the knowledge and power of God, and those of man. God decides to answer Job’s complaint. But he does so in an unexpected fashion: he speaks out of the whirlwind. Job 37:1-2 seems to give some foreshadowing of the storm in which God appears, as Elihu speaks to Job. Perhaps the storm was on the horizon. The whirlwind is often used as a symbol of judgment. Out of the midst of the whirlwind, God answered the challenge of Job, and shows that if man cannot explain everything in God’s natural creation, how can man, then, hope to understand everything about God’s moral creation?

Job’s cry has been heard. “Let the Almighty answer me!” he called out in Job 31:35. God now answers out of the storm. Perhaps Job didn’t expect God to hear and answer. His cry seems to be one of desperation. Perhaps he regrets it. Perhaps he didn’t think it through, and just uttered it under his breath. Matthew 12:36 states: But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.

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The Genre Of The Book Of Job

I have always been intrigued by the book of Job. It is one of the oldest books of the Old Testament, although some have tried to place it as late as the period of the Second Temple. But either way, it is a fascinating book.

The Book Of Job

Job is the first of the books found in the poetry and wisdom section of the Old Testament, along with Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Proverbs, and the Song of Solomon. It is a series of poetic conversations between Job and his friends, sandwiched between two shorter sections of prose, that describe the setting and the conclusion of the events contained within the rest of the book.

As poetry, Job a very interesting piece of literature. Hebrew poetry does not have meter or rhyme, like the poetry of English, or most other modern, western languages. Rhythm is not achieved by repetition of similar sounds, as it is in rhymed verse; and not by rhythmic accent as in blank verse, but rather by the repetition of ideas. This is called parallelism, and is found throughout the poetical literature of the Bible. Take Psalm 9:9 for example:

The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed,
   A stronghold in times of trouble…

Parallelism is called synonymous when the thoughts are identical, as in Psalm 9. It is antithetic when the primary and the secondary ideas are in contrast, as in Psalm 1:6:

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
   But the way of the wicked will perish.

And it is considered synthetic when the thought is developed or enriched by the parallel, as it is in Job 11:18:

Then you would trust, because there is hope;
   And you would look around and rest securely.

And Job is filled with example after example of parallelism, which is interesting in itself. But when it comes to classifying just what kind of poetic literature Job is has been vigorously contested throughout the years. Here are few of the different forms that have been suggested by scholars.

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Book Review – The Daniel Code by O. S. Hawkins

The Daniel CodeOne of my favorite periods of history is Old Testament history, especially around the time of the exile to Babylon. We know so little about this period, and the next few hundred years until the coming of Christ. It’s an intriguing period of history.

It is during this time frame that the events in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther occurred. And it is during this time frame that Daniel lived and served in Babylon. And Daniel is one of my favorite Old Testament books.

O. S. Hawkins has written a brief and easy to read overview of Daniel’s life and legacy called The Daniel Code. In this book, he looks at some of the major events recorded in the first six chapters of Daniel, and shows how they are especially relevant to our own times. The similarities are pretty overwhelming.

We live in a culture that has thrown truth out the window. Daniel lived in a very similar culture. Our biggest challenge is how to live lives of truth in such a culture. Daniel faced the same challenge, and he lived a life of integrity in the face of such challenges. He lived and served for a long time, under kings in both the Babylonian and Persian kingdoms. And he stayed faithful to God through several different extreme circumstances.

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Book Review – The Watchers In Jewish And Christian Traditions

The Watchers In Jewish And Christian TraditionsOver the past couple of years, I have developed a deeper interest in early Christian history, and even more, pre-Christian history. I have enjoyed digging into the beliefs and events surrounding the communities at Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, and other events and occurrences during the late second temple period of Jewish history.

As a result, I read the book of 1 Enoch, and other period literature, as well as some more contemporary accounts of this time period. Most recently, I finished reading The Watchers In Jewish and Christian Traditions.

I found it to be very interesting and thought provoking. The concept of the Watchers comes from a brief statement found in Genesis 6, about the sons of God and the daughters of men. This small portion of Scripture has produced volumes of historical speculation and study, including 1 Enoch.

I feel that this is based on a faulty interpretation of this passage, and that the information contained in this short excerpt from Genesis 6 has been taken to mean something that it does not. My own views notwithstanding, I have enjoyed studying what other interpretations have been over the centuries. The Watchers is a great overview of that course of study. Each chapter is written by a different scholar, and provides an overview of the concept of “watchers,” the offspring of the sons of God and daughters of men, throughout these various periods of Jewish and Christian history.

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Book Review – Black Earth by Timothy Snyder

Black EarthI greatly enjoy reading about history, especially certain eras of history. One of those eras is the time period surrounding World War II. I find this period of time fascinating. In light of that interest, I decided to pick up and read Black Earth: The Holocaust As History And Warning, by Timothy Snyder. I thought it would be an interesting examination of one of the darkest periods of the twentieth century. It was not.

I found it very hard to read Black Earth. Snyder’s writing style was dry and cumbersome, and lacked any kind of excitement. His research was quite extensive, and it shows. He looked in great detail at the mind and politics of Hitler and German before and during the war. But his presentation was very dull, and lacked luster. I did find the history and the look into Hitler’s thought processes interesting, as much as I was able to stay engaged.

It is quite obvious that Snyder comes at this topic from a liberal perspective. And while I am not against reading books that I may not agree with, his approach belittles any other viewpoint, especially more conservative ones, if he acknowledges them at all.

And he makes some connections that make no sense whatsoever. The “lessons” he wants us to learn from the Holocaust, he applies to climate change and global warning, warning this generation to not make similar mistakes as those who lived in the 1930s and 40s. How he managed to make such a comparison, I have no idea. And beyond that, he ridicules those who reject the notion and political stance of climate change, implying that those who take an opposing view have their heads stuck in the sand.