Philosophy & Religion
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A few years after getting
married and starting a career in sales, Joyce began coaching basketball
part-time. Despite having played very little organized basketball and having no
coaching experience, Joyce felt he was called to help young people. In 2002, he
became the head boys' basketball coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in
Akron, OH, where he has coached three state championship teams, won the
National Coach of the Year award, and taught one of the greatest basketball
players of all time—LeBron James, who wrote the foreword. This book contains
the principles by which Coach Dru lives his life and instills in his players
for success both on-and-off court. Each chapter centers on one principle, which
is given a catchy phrase ("Decisions Create Environment") and
contains real-life examples from Joyce's life as a husband and father, his
years coaching, and his Christian faith. He preaches discipline, taking
responsibility for your choices, and following your dreams. While these tenets
are not unique, the book's style makes it palatable for a teenage, mostly male
audience, especially given its connection to basketball and James. VERDICT
Recommended for preteens, teenagers, and anyone who works with and mentors
students of that age. --Library Journal
by Alice Domurat Dreger (Get the Book)
Raised by conservative Catholic parents, Dreger (One of Us,
2004) rejects the church that persecuted Galileo both as champion of
evidence-based science and as forerunner of rights-endowing democracy. But in
two decades as a bioethicist committed to progressive causes, she has
encountered unexpected conflict between the political and scientific branches
of Galileo’s legacy. The author indeed takes readers into the dangerous
no-man’s land separating warriors for political enlightenment from tough-minded
researchers reporting unwelcome empirical findings about human identity, especially
sexually identity. Seasoned by her own combat on behalf of intersex
individuals, Dreger understands that those attacking women and sexual
minorities have often (mis)used science. But she fears the consequences when
political crusaders—including her allies—reject empirical science and slander
those who do it. In a disarmingly candid narrative, she chronicles her
political-scientific struggles dealing with passion-laden issues such as
transgender rights, rape, child sexual abuse, and prenatal fetal experimentation.
Readers see repeatedly the high costs when Galileo’s scientific epigones clash
with his political heirs. A sobering report from a hotly contested cultural
battlefield. --Booklist
by Karen Armstrong (Get the Book)
The relationship of
religion and violence arose, Armstrong relates, as nomadic hunter-gatherers
settled into agrarian communities that developed a system in which protectors
kept peons at work, especially to produce more than the community needed—wealth
that the protectors controlled with the same violence exerted against alien
thieves. The religion of nomads was adapted to apologize for this
master-and-subject structure of agrarian society, thereby inextricably
entwining religion and politics. Eventually, though, in each major religion, a
reaction set in, reaffirming the egalitarianism of hunter-gatherer society
through mutual pacific love. The first part of this—characteristically for
Armstrong—sweeping history traces that development and that reaction in Mesopotamia,
India, China, and among the Hebrews. Reaction continues as the theme of the
second part, examining the challenges of Jesus and Muhammad to the systemic
violence of empires and the ethical crippling of Christianity and Islam as they
were incorporated into empires. The third part, covering modernity, reports the
conceptual separation of religion from the state, the emergence of secularism,
and the battles seemingly between religion and secularity in our own time, in
which secular movements have proved as violent as religious ones, and religion
is often only opportunistically claimed to inspire a violent political
movement, for instance, al-Qaeda. Armstrong again impresses with the breadth of
her knowledge and the skill with which she conveys it to us.
by Kurt M. Jordan (Get the Book)
Too often in life, we see only what we are conditioned to see. Influenced by our parents, environment, education, religious beliefs, mass media, or society in general, these narrow-minded perspectives limit our growth and prevent us from truly connecting with others. In his guidebook Thoughts for a New Perspective, an innovative transformational leader shares fascinating insight on how to remove our blinders, open our minds to a new way of thinking, and ultimately find a new perspective on life. Through a unique roadmap filled with over eight hundred transformational thoughts, Kurt Jordan leads others through an introspective process that opens the mind to think about God in a new way, encourages a look inward to find the answers to a variety of questions about life, offers a new outlook on relationships and love, and shares guidance on how to connect with our spirit in order to discover who we really are deep inside. (Publisher)
by Edward O. Wilson (Get the Book)Eloquent and caring biologist and humanist Wilson posits that it is our limited biological understanding of our now dominant species that induces us to unthinkingly destroy the biosphere and, therefore, ourselves even as we're developing genetic technologies that will allow us to direct our own evolution. To gain the knowledge we need to navigate these dilemmas, Wilson argues, we must unite the humanities and the sciences to develop a deeper form of history that embraces both biology and culture. In this collection of rigorous yet lyrical essays, themselves models of the science-humanities fusion he envisions, Wilson extends his in-depth analysis of our complex, competitive social behavior launched in The Social Conquest of Earth (2012), nimbly discussing the evolutionary sources of our inborn turmoil. Homo sapiens is an innately dysfunctional species, Wilson avers, due to what he defines as the Paleolithic Curse, genetic adaptations that once helped us thrive but now hold us back. Wilson's suggested solutions to our paradoxical predicaments are firmly rooted in science and finely crafted with tonic common sense, unusual directness, and no small measure of valor. --Booklist
by Henry J. Nouwen (Get the Book)This extended meditation on the biblical story of the prodigal son is full of insight. Nouwen's inspiration was a portion of Rembrandt's painting depicting the return of the younger son. As he discusses the painting and its subject, the reader is able to visualize the canvas and become, with Nouwen, each of the characters in the story. His understanding of the aspects of his own character that mirror the humility and hope of the younger son, the anger of the elder, and the patient forgiveness of the father is remarkable. Everyone should be this honest when they encounter others. This is a book that can be read again and again. --Booklist
by Matt Chandler (Get the Book)
Defining marital love as the mingling of souls, Chandler (The Explicit Gospel) proceeds to chart a course through the narrative poetry of the Song of Solomon. Using the Old Testament's "book of love" as guide, Chandler leads couples (and singles looking for love) along the path of "a gospel-centered marriage," through the stages of attraction, dating, courtship, engagement, marriage-all the way to sitting on the back porch with the grandkids around. The book's advice is unapologetically counter to prevailing notions of love, dating, and marriage, firmly entrenched in a complementarian and neo-Calvinist view of sexuality. Chandler's vision of God's design will leave many people wondering if they can aspire to such heavenly standards in earthly relationships. Still, he is gentle with his rebuke, giving relevant, humorous, and eminently practical advice. Conservative Christians will find Chandler's words on continuously kindling the fires of love hopeful and helpful. Others may also glean some advice from a guy who sounds like he is there in the trenches with you. --Publisher's weekly
by Jennifer Michael Hecht (Get the Book)
Hecht (New School Univ., NYC) offers an interesting, well-crafted history of Western philosophical thought on suicide. Unlike most other books on the topic, this one defends two longstanding (but often forgotten) arguments against suicide: that we owe it "to society at large," and "to our future selves" to "stay." The persuasive force of these arguments is bolstered by limiting the context to "despair suicide," but not necessarily to "end-of- life management." Thus, most of the contemporary biomedical debate over physician-assisted suicide is avoided. Critics will point out that both arguments assume that the collective and individual benefits of "staying" necessarily outweigh the future costs. Hence, many critics would argue that suicide is inexorably contextual and not amenable to "one-size-fits-all" arguments. This book is recommended for a general audience, especially those who may be vulnerable to despair suicide. For a more rigorous book that covers the deep philosophical issues associated with suicide, see Michael Cholbi's Suicide: The Philosophical Dimensions (CH, Mar'12, 49-3784). --Choice
by Michael Shermer (Get the Book)
Despite the Twin Towers terrorist attacks and the Rwandan genocide, Shermer discerns moral progress in the last quarter century. Evidence of that progress inheres in statistics limning a global decline of lethal violence and a global proliferation of the rights of women, ethnic minorities, homosexuals, and increasingly even animals. Shermer attributes this progress to the triumph of scientific reasoning and the retreat of religious dogma. To be sure, Shermer is more willing than some New Atheists to recognize that faith can foster volunteerism and generosity. But he still regards piety as a retrograde social influence, incapable of leading the way into an enlightened future. That future, he assures readers, is already unfolding as secular thinkers promulgate a rational morality premised on the principle of interchangeable perspectives, granting special privileges to none but affording equal protection to all. What Shermer calls his protopian theorizing will persuade few who draw their moral precepts from scripture, tradition, or group loyalty. But at a time of widespread cultural ferment, such theorizing will spark keen interest. --Booklist
by Hubert Wolf (Get the Book)
As if the current controversies brewing in the Roman Catholic Church aren't enough, a church historian reaches back in time, unearthing a religious scandal of epic proportions. When German princess Katharina Von Hohenzollern joined the convent of Sant'Ambrogio in Rome in the mid-nineteenth century, she became privy to the convent's salacious secrets, including heresy, sexual abuse, and bizarre lesbian initiation rituals. Eventually perceived as a threat by other convent members, especially Maria Luisa, the convent's beautiful but deranged mistress of novices, she became a target for murder. After surviving several poisoning attempts, she made her escape with the assistance of her cousin, the bishop of Edessa and a confidant of Pope Pius IX. In this meticulously researched account, Wolf unravels the case, the ecclesiastical inquiry, and the aftermath of this disgraceful episode. Religion, sex, and politics reader interest should be high. --Booklist
