Books - CT's 100 Great Books of the 20th Century

Here is a "required" reading list for Christians, according to the editors, staff, and contributors to Christianity Today magazine. These are books that had the most significant impact on Christian theology, practice, and devotion in the 20th century. Many were, and are, controversial. Some were not written by Christians but still had a dramatic influence on Christian perception of faith and society.

I've read seven of them over the years, started three, and own ten others, so I'd best get crackin'.

I've provided Amazon links for the Top 10. The Other 90 are in the first comment.

THE TOP 10

1. C. S. Lewis - Mere Christianity
"The best case for the essentials of orthodox Christianity in print." - David S. Dockery

2. Dietrich Bonhoeffer - The Cost of Discipleship
"Leaves you wondering why you ever thought complacency or compromise in the Christian life was an option." - Mark Buchanan

3. Karl Barth - Church Dogmatics
"Opened a new era in theology in which the Bible, Christ, and saving grace were taken seriously once more." - J. I. Packer

4. J. R. R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
"A classic for children from 9 to 90. Bears constant re-reading." - J. I. Packer

5. John Howard Yoder - The Politics of Jesus
"Some 30 years after this book was published, the church has found itself culturally in a more marginal position, and this book is making wider and wider sense." - Rodney Clapp

6. G.K. Chesterton - Orthodoxy
"A rhetorically inventive exposition of the coherence of Christian truth." - David Neff

7. Thomas Merton - The Seven Storey Mountain
"A painfully candid story of one Christian soul's walk with grace and struggle, it has become the mark against which all other spiritual autobiographies must be measured." - Phyllis Tickle

8. Richard Foster - Celebration of Discipline
"After Foster finishes each spiritual discipline, you not only know what it is, why it's important, and how to do it—you want to do it." - Mark Buchanan

9. Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest
"A treasury of daily devotional readings that has fed the souls of millions of Christians in the twentieth century. Future generations of Christians must continue to draw from this treasury." - Richard J. Mouw

10. Reinhold Niebuhr - Moral Man and Immoral Society
"Introduced a breathtakingly insightful, shrewd, and cunning realism about human sin, especially in its social expressions,
rooted in biblical theology and a penetrating appraisal of the dark era into which the Western world had entered." - David P. Gushee

The other 90 are listed in Comments.

DVD - Saving Sarah Cain (B-)

Starring: Lisa Pepper, Abigail Mason, Soren Fulton, Danielle Chuchran, Tanner Maguire, Bailee Madison, Elliott Gould
Written by: Brian Bird and Cindy Kelley
Directed by: Michael Landon, Jr.

Buy it

This adaptation of Beverly Lewis' novel The Redemption of Sarah Cain is another commendable addition to the oeuvre of family telefilm producer/director Michael Landon, Jr. Taking great liberties with the plot of the novel, the picture turns the usual Witness-esque story of the 'English' trying to adapt to the life of the Amish on its head. It places the devout orphans of the protagonist's recently departed sister in the heart of a major city and explores the effect it has on their hearts and their family dynamic.

The beginning of the film is worrisome due to extremely clunky, high school drama level dialogue that sounds like it was cobbled from a book of newspaper office cliches. All the editor (played with sorely-needed light humor by Elliott Gould of M*A*S*H and Ocean's 11 fame) needed was a cigar to chomp on and he'd be straight out of a comic book.

Fortunately, things improve dramatically once columnist Sarah Cain starts interacting earnestly with her sister's children. Landon's skill at drawing convincing performances from talented kids is highlighted throughout the rest of the film and, by the end, YOU may want to adopt some of them! And leading lady Lisa Pepper (unsung star of Anthony Hopkins' indie film Slipstream) is frequently good and shows great potential for success. She's very easy on the eyes (it's part of the Hollywood equation, folks) and definitely plays well opposite children.

My favorite part may be the flashback sequence at the end. I won't spoil it for you but it's very appropriate to the character and is beautiful, ethereal, evocative, and expertly photographed and edited.

Final score: B minus

Preview - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (A)

This needs no commentary except that it is going to ROCK!

Download hi-def at Narniaweb.

CD - White Christmas (B)

Artist: Martina McBride
Buy it

I'm usually a very savvy buyer when it comes to stealth reissues but I fell for this one hook, line, and wallet while doing my gift shopping at a big box retailer. The complete repackaging, the handful of new tracks that didn't ring any bells (and probably those mesmerizing blue eyes) convinced me to brush aside the little voice that said, "But wasn't her first Christmas album - that we already own - called White Christmas?"

Yes it was. And this is it. Somewhat.

The 1998 tracks have the same liabilities/benefits as they did then. There are no original arrangements and they are virtually straightforward covers of classic versions. But this is good when it comes to singing along with them - no curves are thrown at you. And MM's voice is, of course, insanely beautiful.

The four new tracks produced by Martina herself make some gutsy calls and I like that about them. Her Danny Elfman-esque take on 'Jingle Bells' is funny and just a little creepy and I loved it in spite of myself. She's definitely overheard her kids watching Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory one too many times!

Her time-traveling duet with Dean Martin on 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' is captivating. She has an extremely broad stylistic range and is a terrific mimic. If no one told you the lady's voice was a 21st century superstar you would think it was a Rat Pack-era songstress holding her own with Dino. Brilliant!

It almost makes up for the covert ops. One could blame all that on Martina's label but she is extremely hands-on in the production, design, and marketing of her albums. I've found out she has reissued this album with two extra songs tacked on before but it was with the original artwork. Since she's added 6 songs altogether over the years, why hasn't she just created a new Christmas CD? It would save confusion and animosity (which this reissue is certainly causing, judging by the online comments) and make more money. I understand that RCA wanted a vehicle to put the Dean Martin duet into (and it's working, this is currently just behind Josh Groban's Christmas album on the charts) but I still think this was a misstep.

Final score:
Music - A minus
Marketing - C plus

Book - Carry A Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Theodore Roosevelt (B-)

Author: George Grant
Buy it

An insatiable reader of books on TR, I was immediately drawn to Carry a Big Stick by its small size and by its wealth of quotes from the President (something many authors neglect). Grant is unabashedly hero-worshipping here: no negatives are to be found. If one begins "Stick" with this in mind it can be accepted and tolerated.

Though it is clearly colored by Grant's conservative ideology (he tags turn of the 20th century politicians with turn of the 21st century labels - and greatly underrepresents TR's progressive leanings), it does reveal some facts about Roosevelt's religious convictions and church activities - something that is absolutely ignored in most modern biographies of historic figures.

The book is less a chronological account than a quick look by turns at each facet of the multi-talented and constantly moving President. It is adequate as an introduction but is highly selective.

Reprinted in paperback as The Courage and Character of Theodore Roosevelt. Oddly, it's not any cheaper!

Final score: B minus

CD/DVD - Greatest Hits Special Edition (A-)

Artist: Amy Grant
Buy it

This compilation was not exactly necessary. Grant's last greatest hits album came out only three years ago. It's primary purpose is as a sampler of the brighter sound of her recently recently reissued, newly remastered back catalog. There are two different versions of this set running around: A straightforward CD version and a CD/DVD Special Edition. This review is of the latter.

I am an Amy completist, so I already own every song and music video on this special edition set. It's difficult for me to judge the strength of the track selection because even though I love them all, there are dozens of favorite songs that aren't on it. That's just going to happen when trying to boil 30 years and 20-odd albums down into 19 songs.

I will say to the new or casual fan who is looking for a greatest hits CD to start their AG collection that this is a pretty good place to start. Her first compilation, The Collection was a good, relatively deep summation of Amy's purely Contemporary Christian period and is a great choice for those who want to focus solely on that era. Greatest Hits 1986-2004 covers her crossover and pop hit periods fairly well.

This CD is an extremely broad sampling of both eras but skews to the lite pop - with better remastered sound quality for current systems. The mix of cheery 70s-style acoustics and string sections with 80s synthesizers and 90s adult pop can be a bit jarring but it's all part of Amy's growth over the decades. My only real gripe is the underrepresentation of her introspective and gut-wrenchingly honest work from Lead Me On and Behind the Eyes, which may be regarded by posterity as her two best albums.

The greatest benefit (for new Amy fans and old) of this 2-disc Special Edition - in my humble opinion - is the nearly half hour of interview footage she provides (Preview). Just sitting on the couch with a mug of coffee, reminiscing and vividly describing the hows and whys of the peaks and valleys of her recording career and her life, Amy demonstrates exactly why she has touched audiences and made devoted fans for three decades. It's nearly impossible not to like such an earthy, gentle person who is openly alloyed with the wonderment and messiness of real life. She's like an ideal next door neighbor that you'd love to sit around and discuss life, love, and faith with. And in some ways we already have because it's all there in her songs.

Golden Compass furor

From Christianity Today:

Golden Compasss Under Fire

Just a little over a year ago, a major motion picture hit theaters worldwide carrying a message full of hooey, heresy and borderline blasphemy. But rather than stage boycotts and cry foul, many Christians embraced the film as a "tool" for evangelism and for "engaging" popular culture; one even called it Dan Brown's "gift to the church."

So it was with The Da Vinci Code. Now here comes The Golden Compass, slated to hit theaters in December, and Christians are reacting quite differently. Instead of seeing the film as a tool, opportunity, or gift, some are already calling for a boycott because of the movie's anti-religious elements.

More>>

I feel part of the difference in reaction is that Golden Compasss is targeted primarily at children and parents may see it as an attack on their children's burgeoning spiritual development. And on their parenting efforts. Not being a parent, I suppose I'm not as alarmed. Parental and religious authority is continually questioned and maligned in our current popular entertainment. I can't really see how this is any more egregious. And peddling fear about it is potentially more harmful, in my book, than the movie/books themselves. Fear bred in ignorance will eventually bring about resentment and either cruelty or curiosity. Confronting it, respectfully acknowledging its artistic merit (if there is any), debunking its myths and misconceptions, and - most importantly - admitting where it may have a point is much more productive in the long run. Pull the teeth of the Bumble, to paraphrase Yukon Cornelius.

I would think that a wise and knowledgeable parent would explain the subtle symbolism to children of a certain age. It could be a great opportunity to teach lessons in witnessing to skeptics - and addressing the child's own honest questions about authority and control, actually. Kids will hear all of author Pullman's arguments and stereotypes eventually. Why not take this chance to explain the fallacies in them? Just as with The Da Vinci Code, I'm sure there will be balancing books and guides published to coincide with the movie's release. Parents without much knowledge of philosophy and apologetics could utilize them in preparation.

Also, if we go after this thing with torches and pitchforks, won't we just be proving Pullman's point that we don't trust people to think for themselves?

I had made plans to see The Golden Compass before I knew about any of Pullman's books. It just looked really cool. I may see it yet. I've read Bertrand Russell, so this guy holds no terror for me.