Quarterly Book Reviews #1

With spring beginning in just a few days, I thought it would be nice to make a seasonal review of some of the books that I read during the winter. Here are the ones I found particularly interesting and which I can heartily recommend.

PSYCHOLOGY/BIOGRAPHY

Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith: Psychobiography and the Book of Mormon by Robert D. Anderson (Signature Books 1999)

Another attempt to shed some light on the origins of the Book of Mormon. An impressive psychological profile of one of the most interesting and controversial religious visionaries of the 19th century. Enlightening when it comes to Joseph Smith's family background and the early childhood, far-fetched (although still fascinating) regarding the actual Book of Mormon = psychobiography hypothesis.


AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Before I Say Goodbye by Ruth Picardie (Penguin Books 1998)

Collection of articles, selected emails and letters written by an incredibly witty woman documenting her struggle with cancer and dealing with imminent death. Both hilarious and heartbreaking. One can only hope it will never be turned into a cheesy film.


RELIGION/MYTHOLOGY

On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious by D. E. Harding (Penguin Arkana 1986)

Appropriately brief and concise given the topic (80 plus pages). Greater part of the book is the author's description of the experience of "headlessness" (with techniques on how to get there). Nicely written, beginner-friendly.

P.S. Makes one wonder about the whole concept of writing or reading books on Nothing...


CULTURAL PORTRAIT

The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura

Short history and description of the Japanese tea ceremony, its significance in Zen culture, art and aesthetics, interspersed with the author's subtle nostalgia for Japan as it once was. Absolutely delightful.

RELIGION/MYTHOLOGY

The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess by Starhawk (HarperSanFrancisco 1999) 

First published in 1979, it's a seminal book that continues to have a profound influence on the neo-pagan movement and feminist thealogy (that's right, thealogy). Although a Wiccan classic par excellence, it should appeal to religious progressives across the board, irrespective of gender, race or creed.

Taking Leave of God

I've always thought of myself as a religious person. I've been going to church services regularly for most of my life, reading the Scriptures, thinking about theological issues (rather obsessively at times), teaching Sunday School, volunteering... To cut a long story short, I was a devout Christian. Although there has always been a liberal twist to my faith, I never thought I would come to a point where I would question the fundamentals of my entire belief system. And yet, it did happen.

My "prayer life" was first to disintegrate. It worked fine up until my late teens, but by my mid-20s I realized I didn't really have any clue as to who or what I was praying to, nor why I should be doing it. The concept of Heavenly Father continued to make sense for some more time to come, until it eventually collapsed, leaving behind traces of an inherently ill structure based on emotional void and fear. It finally dawned on me: somewhere along the way I had mistaken neurosis for religion. And so rather than picking up the pieces and moving on, I simply moved on. Ran away, to be more precise, as fast as I could. About two months ago, talking to a close friend, I managed to utter that dreaded word - atheist - applying it for the first time to myself, if only to see how it would sound. Nothing spectacular happened. It didn't hurt a bit. The earth didn't quake. I soon realised it's really not a word I could fully apply to myself, but that's a different story.

All of this is to serve as an introduction to a book that has helped me understand and deal with what I've been going through, religionwise. It's "Taking Leave of God" by Don Cupitt, first published in 1980 by SCM Press. While some of the chapters might be too philosophical and somewhat difficult to process, it's a very exciting book, dubbed by some a manifesto of "Christian Buddhism". Drawing inspiration from religious thinkers and philosophers as diverse as Tertullian, Meister Eckhart and Kierkegaard (to mention but a few), Cupitt attempts to establish a new (or renewed?) and almost Zen-like paradigm of Christian religiosity. Warmly recommended.