Top ten books read in 2011 (part I)
“Lay of Leithian” (incomplete, abandoned after 1931), in The Lays of Beleriand by J. R. R. Tolkien
This is a verse form of the story of Beren and Luthein (edited by Christopher Tolkien), a story best known through the Silmarillion. It is beautiful poetry, sometimes achingly so. It’s pretty much a completely new side of Tolkien for those only familiar with his prose (though, of course, his poetry comes up sometimes in his prose). The rhythm is lovely, but for me it’s mainly the story, together with the whole atmosphere of Tolkien’s creation (or “sub-creation”), that made it so enjoyable (and often ravishing).
Phantastes (1858) by George MacDonald
This book is fantastic, in more ways than one. I seem to have heard from a couple different sources, however, that they couldn’t make it through the book, but I thought it was pretty entrancing, if sometimes perplexing in understanding symbolic elements in the story. It definitely is a strange atmosphere, but for me its alien quality is part of its attraction. It takes place in the realm of Faerie, but get out of your mind completely any thought of Disney, or other associations of a world of child-like fantasy (not that I don’t quite enjoy many classic Disney films). This is Faerie in the older literary tradition, which seems to refer to a world in which light and darkness are each much more acute and powerful, one in which the dangers and wonders of the world are much less veiled and more immediate. The light transfixes with its glory whereas the darkness transfixes with its terror. (Tolkien, in his Smith of Wooten Major, tries to tell a story to introduce the reader to Faerie, and he undoubtedly does a better job than I can.) The main character, Anodos, travels through the dreamlike realm, a transformation of his spiritual quest into incarnate form. There is a story within the story, on Cosmo and the mirror, that would have made the entire read worth it even if I hadn’t liked any other part.
Counterfeit Gods (2009) by Tim Keller
A lot of this book is helpful, but by far the most helpful (for me) is the introduction and the epilogue. Particularly the former, which is one of the most clear and concise descriptions I’ve read of what I take to be probably the central issue of the human condition, which can be gotten at through such questions as: what do you live for (really), what’s your highest good (summum bonum), what do you have which, if you lost, would make life not worth living, or what dream is driving you forward which, if lost, would make you despair of life? That is to say, what is your (true) god? Keller argues that some common ones are things like wealth or financial security, a romantic attachment, and power over others in the world you inhabit, or the dream of such things. These things, even when granted, he argues, can’t support the weight of our deepest hopes. In other words, they’re counterfiet gods, but the human heart incorgibly sets its hope on them. This certainly doesn’t just apply to unbelievers. Christians functionally set their hopes on all kinds of things other than Jesus Christ. But Keller makes the case that, as the Crucified was the only one who could bear the weight of our sin, so he is the only one who can bear the weight of our hope. The epilogue is helpful in discerning the gods of your heart (e.g, where do your day dreams take you; what sets off your anger—in tracing back negative emotions you can often find a displeased idol). It’s a call to self-awareness and to (after identifying them) continually flee from your idols, which can never satisfy, back to Christ, who offers, though admittedly through a path of pain, more life, joy, and fulfilment than can be imagined, literally.
The Confessions (c. 398) by St. Augustine
This is perhaps one of the most influential books in the Western canon. I find more often than not that the classics are classics for a reason, and this is no exception. Augustine has an interesting life story, even if you’re only interested in a personal intellectual journey in the late Roman Empire, but it can also be spiritually enriching if you’re looking for that too. I got the sense that the late Roman Empire was an exciting time, intellectually speaking, particularly from a Christian perspective. That is, in the modern West it’s incredibly difficult to look at Christianity objectively, as one intellecutal choice among many, because we’re all so close to it whether we love it or hate it, both since the West was profoundly influenced by it and it’s still the major religion of America (though many could not point out its basic tenets), not to mention the “culture wars” that do such a great job of muddying the waters. But this wasn’t the case in Augustine’s time. One was able to see Christianity in sharp relief with other intellectual options like Manicheism, Neoplatonism, or perhaps vestiges of the old paganism. In any case, you could see it for what it was, as something rather new and distinct in the world, and I imagine that was an exciting time. But perhaps my favorite aspect of the book was that he confirmed my understanding that grace is the only firm thing to stand on among all the shifting and uncertain ground of the world.
The Story of Christianity (2007) by David Bentley Hart
This is a helpful broadbrush survey of the history of Christianity, giving a concise account of most of the major formative or watershed events or movements in the story of Christianity. The broad brush is particularly good because it discusses important aspects in the history of Christianity that are obscure from a Western perspective, such as the development, not only of things like Eastern Orthodoxy, but of early African Christianity. It also, as Christian history surveys often do, doubles as a history of the unfolding of Europe and the Western world (and beyond, particularly since Christianity’s center of gravity is rapidly shifting away from the West). There are also many helpful tidbits in which Hart takes time to point out common modern or popular misconceptions and oversimplifications in the history of Christianity (such as, e.g., the Spanish Inquisition, a black mark on Christian history but which was nevertheless much more driven by the state than the church; and of Christianity’s relationship with science historically). Also, Hart is an excellent writer.
