Book Review: The Classical Music Book

The Classical Music Book

Authors: Steve Collisson was the consultant, Katie Derham wrote the Foreword, and many other musicians, composers, professors of music, and writers contributed to this volume.

Publisher: Penguin Random House, hardcover, 352 pages, including: 8 chapters, Foreword, Introduction, Directory, Glossary, Index, Quote Attributions, and Acknowledgments

The authors/contributors are primarily from Britain and America, coming from a variety of musical backgrounds, skills and academic and experiential qualifications. 

Contents

In addition to the Foreword, Introduction, etc., the main body of this volume consists of 8 chapters, which focus on specific periods of musical history, they are: Early Music 1000-1400, Renaissance 1400-1600, Baroque 1600-1750, Classical 1750-1820, Romantic 1810-1920, Nationalism 1830-1920, Modern 1900-1950, Contemporary post-1950. In each of these chapters the writers highlight several composers, sometimes providing brief biographical sketches, and they analyze their compositions.

Significant Quotations mostly by Composers

“Music is the social act of communication among people, a gesture of friendship, the strongest there is” -Malcolm Arnold (p. 14). 

“We should sing Psalms on a ten-string psaltery” Ordo Virtutum (c. 1151), Hildegard of Bingen (p. 26).

“That is the nature of hymns—they make us want to repeat them” -Great Service (c. 1580/1590), William Byrd (p. 52).

“The end of all good music is to affect the soul” -Claudio Monteverdi (p. 67). 

“What the English like is something they can beat time to” Water Music, HWV 348-350 (1717), George Frideric Handel (p. 84).

“Handel is the greatest composer that ever lived...I would uncover my head and kneel down on his tomb” -Ludwig van Beethoven (p. 86). 

“Handel understands effect better than any of us—when he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt” -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (p. 88). 

“The end and final aim of all music should be none other than the glory of God” St. Matthew Passion(1727), -Johann Sebastian Bach (p. 98). 

“Not “brook” [in German: Bach], but “sea” should he be called because of his infinite, inexhaustible richness in tone combinations and harmonies” -Ludwig van Beethoven (p. 101).

“One who has completely forgotten Christianity truly hears it here as Gospel” -Friedrich Nietzsche, commenting on J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (p. 103). 

“Ceaseless work, analysis, reflection, writing much, endless self-correction, that is my secret” -Johann Sebastian Bach (p. 110). 

“We must play from the soul, not like trained birds” Flute concerto in A major, WQ 168 (1753), Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (p. 120).

“A musician...must feel all the emotions that (s)he hopes to arouse in his (or her) audience” -C.P.E. Bach (p. 121). 

“Mozart’s music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner workings of the universe” -Albert Einstein (p. 131).

“We walk, by the power of music, in joy through death’s dark night” The Magic Flute (1791), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (p. 134). 

“I live only in my notes” Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, “Eroica,” OP 55 (1804), Ludwig van Beethoven (p. 138). 

“Music is truly love itself” Der Freischütz (1821), Carl Maria von Weber (p. 149). 

“My compositions spring from my sorrows. Those that give the world the greatest delight were born of my deepest griefs” -Franz Schubert (p. 153).

“To play a wrong note is insignificant. To play without passion is inexcusable” -Ludwig van Beethoven (p. 161). 

“To send light into the darkness of (wo)men’s hearts—such is the duty of the artist” -Robert Schumann (p. 168).

“I live in music like a fish in water” Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor (1868), Camille Saint-Saens (p. 179). 

“A symphony must be like the world, it must contain everything” Also Sprach Zarathustra (1896), Richard Strauss (p. 192). 

“If a composer could say what (s)he had to say in words, (s)he would not bother saying it in music”Das Lied Von Der Erde (1908-1909), Gustav Mahler (p. 198). 

“I am sure my music has a taste of cod fish in it” Peer Gynt (1875), Edvard Grieg (p. 208). 

“The more he saturated his mind with [Peer Gynt], the more clearly he saw that he was the right man for a work...so permeated with the Norwegian spirit” -Nina Hagerup, Grieg’s wife (p. 209). 

“The music of the people is like a rare and lovely flower” Symphony No. 9, “From The New World”(1893), Antonin Dvoṝák (p. 212).

“The art of music above all the other arts is expression of the soul” The Dream of Gerontius (1900), Edward Elgar (p. 218). 

“I want women to turn their minds to big and difficult jobs” The Wreckers (1904), Ethel Smyth (p. 231). 

“The whole English attitude toward women in fields of art is ludicrous....There is no sex in art. How you play the violin, paint, or compose is what matters” -Ethel Smyth (p. 237). 

“The expression “atonal music” is most unfortunate—it is on par with calling swimming “the art of not drowning” -Arnold Schoenberg (p. 243). 

“I haven’t understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it” Le Sacre Du Printemps (1913), Igor Stravinsky (p. 246).

“There is no difference in kind, but only in degree, between Beethoven and the humblest singer of a folk song” -Ralph Vaughan Williams (p. 253). 

“I have never written a note I didn’t mean” Parade (1917), Erik Satie (p. 256). 

“Life is a lot like Jazz...it’s better when you improvise” Rhapsody in Blue (1924), George Gershwin (p. 258). 

“Great music must come from the heart. Any music created by technique and brains alone is not worth the paper it is written on” -Maurice Ravel (p. 266). 

“If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth” -Dmitri Shostakovich (p. 277). 

“My faith is the grand drama of my life. I’m a believer, so I sing words of God...I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities...and paint colours for those who see none” -Olivier Messiaen (p. 282).

“So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning” -Aaron Copland (p. 286). 

“Composing is like driving down a foggy road” Peter Grimes (1945), Benjamin Britten (p. 288).

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas; I’m frightened of the old ones” 4’33”(1952), John Cage (p. 302).

“Repetition is based on body rhythms, so we identify with the heartbeat, or with walking, or with breathing” -Karlheinz Stockhausen (p. 306). 

“The role of the musician...is perpetual exploration” Pithoprakta (1955-1956), Iannis Xenakis (p. 308).

“Once you become an ism, what you’re doing is dead” In C (1964), Terry Riley (p. 312).

“A Western tone walks horizontally but a tone of the shakuhachi rises vertically like a tree” -Toru Takemitsu (p. 315). 

“I was in that generation of people who could look beyond the borders of Europe and North...and South America” -Philip Glass (p. 321). 

“This must be the first purpose of art...to change us” Apocalypsis (1977), R. Murray Schafer (p. 322). 

“My music is written for ears” L’Amour De Loin (2000), Kaija Saariaho (p. 325). 

“I don’t think you should have to know anything about my music, or anything about music in general, to enjoy it...I look at music as a mirror” – Jennifer Higdon (p. 326).

The only critique I have of this volume is that it should have included more female composers, and composers from other nations and continents of the world! 

Brief Book Review: Daily Readings with a Modern Mystic

Brief Book Review: Daily Readings with a Modern Mystic: Selections from the Writings of Evelyn Underhill

Author: Delroy Oberg, editor

Publisher: Darton Longman & Todd, and Twenty-Third Publications, softcover, 179 pages, including: Acknowledgments, Dedication, Chronology, Introduction, 13 chapters, an Epilogue, Notes, and Sources

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Authors 

Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), an Anglican by faith, was a British, 20^th century pioneer author, scholar, lecturer, retreat leader, and spiritual director. A prolific author, she was one of the first women in the 20^th century to study and publish works on mysticism and spirituality. She studied at King’s College, the University of London, and later lectured there, as well as at Oxford University, and the University of St. Andrews. The Roman Catholic lay theologian, Baron Friedrich von Hügel was her spiritual director.

The editor of this volume, Delroy Oberg, has written numerous articles about Evelyn Underhill’s life and work. She is a teacher and tutor. She has a BA, BEd and an MLittStud, with her thesis titled ‘The Spirituality of Evelyn Underhill.’ Oberg lives in Queensland, Australia. 

Contents

Each of the chapters focus on a theme or themes in the spiritual and mystical life, and Delroy Oberg provides introductions to the chapters. The chapters consist of citations from Evelyn Underhill’s works. The chapter themes and titles are as follows: 1 Saints And Mystics, 2 The Spiritual Life And Mysticism, 3 The Church, 4 Homeliness, 5 Time Given To God: Retreats, 6 The Eucharist, 7 Prayer, 8 The Stages Of Prayer, 9 Prayer And Belief, 10 Intercession, 11 War And Peace, 12 Letters Of Direction, 13 The Cross, 14 Epilogue is Oberg’s very brief summary sketch of Underhill’s spiritual and mystical life, and those that were “pleased” with Underhill’s life and works. 

Three Quotations

To stimulate the curiosity of readers of this short review, as an encouragement to read this volume, here are three quotations from Underhill’s works. 

The first one is from chapter 2, and comes from Underhill’s The Spiritual Life, pp. 30-32: “Indeed, if God is All and His Word to us is All, that must mean that He is the reality and controlling factor of every situation, religious or secular; and that it is only for His glory and creative purpose that it exists. Therefore our favorite distinction between the spiritual life and the practical life is false” (p. 28). 

The second quotation is from chapter 7, and comes from Underhill’s The House of the Soul, pp. 110-11: “For real prayer is simply the expression and the experience of Faith, Hope, and Charity, each penetrating and enhancing the other, and merging to form in us that state of energetic and loving surrender, in which our spirits have according to their measure communion with the Spirit of God” (p. 97). 

The third quotation is from chapter 13, and comes from Underhill’s The School of Charity, pp. 59-60: “Every Christian is required to be an instrument of God’s rescuing action; and His power will not be exerted through us except at considerable cost to ourselves. Muzzy, safety-first Christianity is useless here. We must accept the world’s worst if we are to give it of our best” (p. 171). Given “the world’s worst” today, there are infinite opportunities for every Christian “to be an instrument of God’s rescuing action”! 

Book Review: Time’s Echo: Music, Memory, and the Second World War

 

Time’s Echo: Music, Memory, and the Second World War 

Author: Jeremy Eichler

Publisher: Vintage Books A Division of Penguin Random House LLC, softcover, 386 pages, including: Prelude, Part I, Part II, Coda, Acknowledgements, Notes, and Index

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

Contents 

Part I contains Chapter One: Emancipating Music; Chapter Two: Dancing in the Thorns; Chapter Three: Torn Halves; Chapter Four: Beneath the Waves; Chapter Five: The Emancipation of Memory; Chapter Six: Moses in Albuquerque; Part II contains Chapter Seven: From the Other Shore; Chapter Eight: Angels of History; Chapter Nine: The Light of Final Moments; Chapter Ten: Monuments; Coda: Listening to Lost Time.

The Author 

Jeremy Eichler is a writer, scholar, critic, and educator, and served as chief classical music critic for The Boston Globe. He teaches music history and public humanities at Tuft University. He earned his PhD in modern European history at Columbia University.

Brief Observations 

In his Prelude: In the Shade of the Oak, Eichler contrasts the tragic irony of Germany’s great poet, Goethe enjoying a banquet-like breakfast in the shade of an oak tree, where the Nazis built the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Eichler also states in the Prelude: “The role of music in particular as an “unconscious chronicle”--as a witness to history and as a carrier of memory for a post-Holocaust world—is the subject of this book” (p. 7). 

The author focusses, in particular, on these four composers: Arnold Schoenberg and his A Survivor from Warsaw, Richard Strauss and his Metamorphosen, Benjamin Britten and his War Requiem, and Dmitri Shostakovich and his Babi Yar. Eichler provides some of the social, political and musical contexts that influenced these four composers and their works. He also goes into detail explaining and analyzing the four compositions, and cites other art, music, and cultural pundits, politicians, and others who commented on the four works—indeed, there are some fairly extensive citations in this volume. Eichler also personally interviewed people such as Shostakovich’s third wife. Thus a substantial amount of research went into Time’s Echo.

One of the haunting ironies Eichler underscores is that even though these four composers and their four compositions were accepted by many as part of the status quo, they were perhaps more implicitly than explicitly critiques of the status quo. 

Eichler suggests possibilities will open: “...when we attempt to hear music as culture’s memory” (p. 15). He also states: “...this book is also implicitly an argument for what I call deep listening—that is, listening with an understanding of music as time’s echo” (p. 15).

The author underscores the irony of the Jewish composer, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy popularizing German music by first conducting J.S. Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion in 1829, and later as the conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig—a post he held for the rest of his life.

Another irony, according to Eichler, was that Arnold Schoenberg, a Jew, was influenced by Richard Wagner, an anti-Semite.

Both Arnold Schoenberg and Arnold Rosé converted to Protestantism in the evangelical church on the Dorotheegasse in Vienna. In the case of Schoenberg, it was one year after a pogrom in Vienna.

During World War I, Schoenberg composed an oratorio Die Jakob sleiter (Jacob’s Ladder), which he didn’t finish. His spiritual distress during World War II led him back to this work.

In 1919, British composer John Foulds composed World Requiem for all who mourned those who died in World War I. 

In World War I, German Jews fought along with the Germans, hoping the latter would accept them as equals. Instead, the German Jews were blamed for losing the war—they were scapegoated, claiming that they undermined and sabotaged the German forces.

In 1921, Schoenberg discovered the twelve-tone method of composition. He employed dissonance, contributing to the atonal nature in his works. During the 1920s, he was widely acclaimed and became quite popular as a musician across Europe and internationally. 

Schoenberg’s opera Moses und Aron is described by Eichler and he speculates about why Schoenberg did not finish composing the music for the final act. With the growing anti-Semitism under Hitler and the Nazis in the early 1930s, Schoenberg left Germany never to return. 

According to Eichler: “Strauss composed Metamorphosen, regarded today as an iconic masterwork of twentieth-century music, between August 1944 and March 1945 for the conductor Paul Sacher’s Collegium Musicum Zürich” (p. 105). Eichler also describes the work, suggesting there are elements of mourning and: “...a direct quotation from the sublimely tragic funeral march of Beethoven’sEroica Symphony” (p. 105). 

Arnold Schoenberg had converted to Lutheranism to be accepted by Germans. However, in 1933, with the growing anti-Semitism of the Nazis, he took refuge in France, and converted to Judaism, and supported Jewish nationalism. Also in 1933, he decided to move to the U.S.A. He had, before many others, prophetically foresaw the mass destruction of the European Jews, urging them to take refuge in safe nations.

Eichler points out that some countries tried to forget the Shoah. “In the United States, Elie Wiesel’s now iconic testimony [Night] was rejected by more than fifteen publishers” (p. 159). 

The author describes the world premiere of Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw by the amateur Albuquerque Civic Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Frederick as a success, and it was actually performed twice in that concert. Eichler also discusses how Schoenberg’s score was performed, accepted and critiqued in other places.

In Eichler’s discussion of the Holocaust memorialization, he states: “Art remembers what society would like to forget. It does so uniquely in ways that link mind, heart, and spirit” (p. 174). 

The author provides some biographical information on Benjamin Britten and analyzes some of his music. Britten’s War Requiem includes World War I poetry by Wilfred Owen, and was influenced by Verdi’s Requiem. It was commissioned for the opening of the new Coventry Cathedral. Ironically, Britten was a pacifist, yet in War Requiem, he memorialized the war dead. 

When Leningrad was under siege by the Germans on the day that the Germans thought they would end the siege and occupy Leningrad, the city’s musicians played Dmitri Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, and directed the loudspeakers toward the German troops as an act “...of both cultural pride and sonic-psychological warfare” (p. 248). 

Even though Shostakovich was an atheist and not a Jew, he included Jewish musical themes in some of his compositions.

Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote the poem “Babi Yar,” and Shostakovich placed “Babi Yar” as his first movement of his Thirteenth Symphony. He also included other Yevtushenko poems in the score’s other movements. 

Eichler, like other compositions, describes “Babi Yar,” and how it was viewed by pundits and the Soviet government. 

Babyn Yar is the place where some 60,000 Jews and around 40,000 others were murdered by the Nazis. It has changed a few times since World War II, depending on the political ideology, as have the monuments at the site. 

Shostakovich eventually became a member of the Communist Party, yet, ironically, some viewed him as a secret dissident because of his Thirteenth Symphony.

Both Britten’s War Requiem and Shostakovich’s Babi Yar premiered in 1962, and the composers realized that they were quite similar. Both admired each other’s compositions, visited and corresponded with each other. According to Eichler: “...Britten and Shostakovich also shared a conception of a larger social mission for their art in society” (p. 271).

Perhaps it was providential that as Britten was dying in Aldeburgh, England, Leonard Bernstein was conducting the New York Philharmonic’s performance of Shostakovich’s Fourteenth Symphony,which incorporated death themes. 

In this volume, Eichler also discusses the, at times, complex and even controversial connections involving memory and monuments. 

Musicians, composers, and historians will most likely benefit the most from this volume. 

Brief Book Review: Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians

Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians 

Author: Tom Wright

Publisher: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Westminster John Knox Press, paperback, 164 pages, including an Introduction, Map, and Glossary

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

At the time of this publication, Tom (N.T. Wright) was the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England. A prolific author and noted New Testament scholar, Wright was named by Christianity Today as one of the top five theologians in the world. He has written over thirty books, both at the scholarly level (including Jesus and the Victory of God and The Resurrection of the Son of God) and for a popular audience (including The Meal Jesus Gave Us).

Brief Observations 

In his “For Everyone” New Testament series, Tom Wright states that he has deliberately written “for everyone,” and not for religious and intellectual elites. Therefore he does not include footnotes and Greek words. Rather, there is a Glossary of pertinent words and phrases, containing simple descriptions of them. However, words that Wright has omitted, which this reader believes are very significant are: sin, evil, hope, joy, and thanksgiving. One wonders why he failed to include them?

His own translation of 2 Corinthians, which seems somewhat folksy, reminds this reader a bit of Eugene Peterson’s The Message. Yet one may quibble about the occasional passage, even though Wright does try to remain faithful to the original text in his translation. 

All-in-all though, this wee volume is a worthwhile read. Wright’s prose is easy to read, inspiring and insightful—he reminds me here a lot of the William Barclay commentaries, which perhaps inspired him. I especially appreciated his opening each segment with a down-to-earth contemporary example, which preachers and laity will appreciate for sermons and Bible studies. 

Book Review: Ehyeh: A Kabbalah For Tomorrow

Ehyeh: A Kabbalah For Tomorrow

Author: Arthur Green

Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing, paperback, 192 pages, including Preface, Introduction, Epilogue, and Notes

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

At the time of publication, Dr. Arthur Green was Philip W. Lown Professor of Jewish Thought at Brandeis University and dean of the Rabbinical School at Boston’s Hebrew College. Former president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, he is also a rabbi, a historian of Jewish mysticism, and a theologian. He is the author of: These Are the Words: A Vocabulary of Jewish Spiritual Life; Tormented Master: The Life and Spiritual Quest of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav; Seek My Face: A Jewish Mystical Theology; and The Language of Truth: Teaching from the Sefat Emet. He is also co-editor of Your Word Is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer. 

Contents

The volume contains the following: Confession, By Way of a Preface, Introduction: Ehyeh As a Name of God, Part I: Rereading The Old Tradition—consisting of 6 chapters, Part II: Looking Toward Tomorrow—consisting of 6 chapters, Epilogue: To Keep on Learning—Where Do I Go from Here? and Notes. 

Brief Observations 

Rabbi Dr. Arthur Green displays his erudite gifts and skills in this volume. At the time this volume was published, he had studied Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism for 40 years. He is likely one of the most highly respected experts on Jewish mysticism. Yet, he humbly states: “I have not yet come up with any definitive answers” (p. xvi). 

As I read this work, I realized how in-depth Professor Green takes his audience. One of the main reasons he wrote this book was for seekers—both Jewish and non-Jewish, and he states that he still considers himself to be a seeker. He invites them to take their time reading, and engage with him both heart and mind. 

In his introduction, Rabbi Dr. Green begins with the Kabbalah hidden name of God Ehyeh(pronounced eh-yeh), “I shall be.” He suggests that: “The name Y-H-W-H should not be translated “God” or “Lord,” but rather “Is-Was-Will Be” (p. 2). God’s name is more verb than noun. He also explains the kabbalist word keter: “Keter is existence that precedes all definition” (p. 5). 

In “1 Kabbalah Old and New,” Professor Green states the meaning of the word kabbalah, “the received.” Traditions received from previous generations. 

In “2 There Is Only One,” Rabbi Dr. Green addresses The One and the many, emphasizing the oneness of all that exists: “Kabbalah teaches that there is a secret unity of all Being, hidden within the multiplicity and diversity of life as we experience it” (p. 20). It was God’s love that created everyone and everything.

In “3 Torah: Creation’s Truth Revealed,” Professor Green refers to a primordial Torah, Torah revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, and a new Torah created from life experiences.

In “4 Sefirot: The One and the Ten,” Rabbi Dr. Green explains the Ten Sefirot, with the aid of diagrams. He also includes “A Guided Meditation.” 

Throughout this volume, Professor Green explains a variety of Hebrew words and letters, and their significance. In one section he includes “A Meditation On God’s Name,” (p. 82f). 

In “7 Seeking a Path,” Rabbi Dr. Green states that: “Mystics share with other religious people an intense awareness of Divine Presence and a constant readiness to respond to that presence in both prayer and action” (p. 96). In this chapter, he also includes: “These Are the Things a Person Should Do to Live by Them,” (p. 102f) listing 14 things to practice one’s faith.

In “8 Great Chain of Being: Kabbalah for an Environmental Age,” the author acknowledges the tragic state of creation and humankind, stating: “The changes needed in collective human behavior in order to save us from self-destruction are stupendous” (p. 118). 

In “10 What about Evil?” Professor Green includes a discussion on the biblical stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel, as well as the Holocaust, and the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. He believes that: “To be a Jew is to think about evil. The fact that we have so long been its victims does not mean that we are never its perpetrators” (p. 138). 

In “11 The Life of Prayer,” Rabbi Dr. Green identifies two traditional categories of prayer—spontaneous and liturgical. He also explains a diagram of “The Kabbalistic ‘Amidah” (pp. 160-165). 

In “12 Community: Where Shekhinah Dwells,” the author points out that the 613 commandments are rooted in the original 10 commandments. He also underscores the importance of creativity in order to teach Torah: “The mystical tradition has always been especially open to innovative, sometimes even wildly radical new readings of Torah” (p. 174). 

In “Epilogue: To Keep on Learning—Where Do I Go from Here?” Professor Green mentions several scholars, and recommends some their works. He starts with two of his teacher’s works, Abraham Joshua Heschel: God in Search of Man, and The Sabbath. He also recommends that it is better to learn Hebrew and read sources in that language, than to rely on English translations—something is lost in translation. 

This volume will be very beneficial to both Jewish and Christian scholars, students, and clergy interested in Kabbalah. As a Christian reviewer, I especially appreciated, and was reminded of parallels in Christianity, of the list of 14 things on pp. 102-105.

Brief Review: Instrument of Thy Peace

Instrument of Thy Peace – Revised Edition

Author: Alan Paton

Publisher: The Seabury Press, paperback, 124 pages

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

Alan Paton was a South African Anglican layperson, author, teacher, and anti-apartheid social justice advocate. 

Brief Observations 

In his Preface, Paton begins with the following sentence: “This book is written for sinners, and by one of them” (p. 7). In addition to sinners—that includes, of course, everyone—he states: “I wrote also for those who are inclined to melancholy, for those who are inclined to withdraw rather than to participate...[rather than] the building of a more just order of society” (p. 7). 

Paton wrote this volume, of his 21 meditations based on Francis of Assisi’s classic prayer, during the time when his wife of 39 years, Dorrie, was dying of emphysema. He believed: “I was given help to write it” (p. 8). 

Each of the 21 meditations begins with a quotation often from Francis’s prayer or one or more biblical passages. However meditation 17 begins with four quotations from newspapers focussing on the 1967 black riots in several USA cities. In most of the meditations there are other quotations from a wide variety of people and sources, including: excerpts from The Little Flowers Of St Francis Of Assisi, John Bunyan, William Temple, Alexander Paterson, Dag Hammarskjold, Paul Tillich, Ralph Hodgson, Lancelot Andrews, Julian of Norwich, the “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann, The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky, Reinhold Niebuhr, and several others. The meditations often end with a prayer by Paton, wherein he concludes with these or similar words: “And help me this coming day to do some work of peace for Thee” (p. 53).

In meditation 3, based on Francis’s petition: “Where there is hatred, let me sow love,” Paton provides readers with his commitment to social justice: “To be the instrument of God’s peace is not to confine oneself to the field of personal relationships, but to concern oneself also with the problems of human society, hunger, poverty, injustice, cruelty, exploitation, war” (p. 20). At the end of this meditation Paton prays this prayer, which highlights his faith, and complements his commitment to social justice, and how he was inspired and motivated by Francis’s petition: “Take all hate from my heart, O God, and teach me how to take it from the hearts of others. Open my eyes and show me what things in our society make it easy for hatred to flourish and hard for us to conquer it. Then help me to try to change these things. And so open my eyes and my ears that I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for Thee” (p. 22). 

Some of the meditations also contain contemporary anecdotes and insights born out of Paton’s own life experiences. For example, a friend of his who was overanxious could have been thankful for the blessings in her life, rather than being preoccupied with what might happen to her. 

In a couple of meditations, Paton is very honest with his readers concerning the “sinner” part of himself. He admitted that he struggled with and fell short of Jesus’s teaching to love one’s enemies. When someone pointed out to him that as a Christian he could be more joyful, he admitted that there was more room in his life to grow more joyful. 

Although some of the illustrations and contexts may be dated, others, even if dated, are as relative and instructive today as they were in Alan Paton’s day. This is a devotional classic that readers may wish to read periodically to discover insights and inspiration. 

Book Review: Just A Mother

Just A Mother

Author: Roy Jacobsen, Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw

Publisher: Biblioasis, paperback, 318 pages, including Glossary

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

Roy Jacobsen was born in Oslo, his family was from northern Norway. He has written over 15 novels, and is a Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature member. In addition to this novel, Jacobsen has written 3 other Ingrid Barrøy Novels. The Unseen, the first one about Ingrid and her family, was a phenomenal bestseller in Norway and was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award, selected as an Indie Next pick in North America, and named a New York Times New and Noteworthy book. The Kirkus-starred and critically acclaimed White Shadow, the second Barrøy novel, was published in North America by Biblioasis in 2021 and followed by Eyes of the Rigel in 2022. 

Brief Observations

It is sometime after World War II. Ingrid, the protagonist, who is referred to as “just a mother,” (p. 310), the novel’s title, is a member of the Barrøy family, and as a young woman she inherited from her parents, Hans and Maria, Barrøy Island in northern Norway. Ingrid had given birth to her daughter Kaja. The father of Kaja, Alexander, a Russian P.O.W. had been rescued from the wreck of the Rigel. Ingrid also raised Felix and Suzanne after the death of their parents, Zezenia and Oskar Tommesen. In addition to these children, Ingrid also took in a girl named Nelvy who died young, and Mathias—also referred to as Mattis—son of Olavia Storm and a German officer, Ottmar Ehrlich. After the disappearance/abandonment of Olavia, and the death at sea of her husband, Johannes Hartvigsen, who was twice her age, Ingrid, with the assistance of Pastor Samuel Malmberget, eventually adopted Mathias.

Pastor Samuel studied in Germany, expounds on Luther’s Bible, and likes to show up for surprise visits of his parishioners. Regarding himself as shy, he and Anna Karina Storm marry.

Barbro is Ingrid’s aunt, sister to her father Hans. She is the mother of an adult son, Lars, named after a Swedish worker on the island who may be his father. Barbro lives with Ingrid, offers hospitality to visitors, helps out with chores, and sings in the church choir. 

The novel goes on at length to describe the isolated way of life on Barrøy Island, relying on boats to bring in supplies, mail, etc., no electricity, struggling to eke out a living with gardens, fishing, animals, and collecting eider down.

Mariann Vollheim was another lover of Alexander, after Ingrid. She is married to Olav, and lives in Trondheim with her daughter called Little Ingrid. Ingrid Barrøy and Mariann communicate with each other via letters, and have somewhat of a complex and conflicted relationship. However Mariann arranges for Kaja and Mathias to attend school in Trondheim. Mariann inherited an estate, and was a teacher at the Trondheim Cathedral School. 

There is a lengthy process of selling local properties in order to build a new school. Ingrid employs stalling tactics to try and get as much money as possible for the Johannes Hartvigsen property, the proceeds of which would be given to Mathias. 

The men of the community travel to Lofoten to fish during the winter months. However one year that changes, and Barrøy is never the same again. 

The novel highlights, among other things: the importance of and tension within community relationships, childhood curiosity, traditional rural island and modern urban life, individual and collective identity in relation to the environment, psychological and theological issues such as guilt, shame, grief, anger, doubt, faith, sin, and the absence or presence of God in the lives and deaths of humans. 

I’m not certain if the author or publisher chose the title for this novel. However, given the complexity of human beings, Ingrid is certainly more than “just a mother.” She is a niece, a mentor and community leader, a gardener, a farmer, a neighbour and friend, from a faith perspective a child of God, and so on. 

The novel leaves this reviewer wondering if Roy Jacobsen will publish a fifth Ingrid Barrøy Novel, since the ending leaves readers curious about the future of a number of characters, including Ingrid.

Book Review: Canada and Climate Change

Canada and Climate Change

Author: William Leiss

Publisher: McGill-Queen’s University Press, hardcover, 181 pages

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

At the time of this volume’s publication (2022), William Leiss was/is a fellow and past president of the Royal Society of Canada, an officer of the Order of Canada, and professor emeritus at the School of Policy Studies Queen’s University. He is the author of several books, including Mad Cows and Mother’s Milk: The Perils of Poor Risk Communication.

Contents

This volume is the second one of the Canadian Essentials Series, published jointly by McGill-Queen’s University Press and the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. It contains Tables and Figures, Preface, Introduction, 1 What Is Climate? 2 The Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs, 3 Predictions of Climate Science, 4 Trusting Climate Science, 5 Canada: Negotiating Climate Change, 6 Treaty Framing and Climate Science, 7 Managing the Risks of Global Warming, 8 Canada: Mitigation, Impacts, and Adaptation, Reminiscences and Acknowledgments, Appendix 1: Notes and Calculations for Table 6.4, Appendix 2: The Risk Approach in IPCC’s AR6, Impacts of Climate Change, References and Sources, Index. 

Brief Observations

The author begins by stating that in light of the copious written material on climate change, to write yet another book “might well be regarded as a monumentally foolish endeavour” (p. xi). He refers to the polar ends of the pendulum regarding attitudes toward climate change in fossil-fuel-producing countries, which have paralyzed politicians, thus failing to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions for the past thirty years. The audience Leiss hopes to reach is “the educated general reader,” and “secondary-school students, as well as college and university students enrolled in introductory courses” (p. xii).  One of the purposes of writing this volume is to affirm the legitimacy of climate scientists and their research, as well as highlight how countries have responded—or have failed to respond appropriately—to climate science research and reports. 

Leiss suggests that Canada needs to tackle three things in response to climate change/crisis: Mitigation—the how and why of reducing GHG emissions; how Canadians will likely need to adapt to climate change/crisis, and justice/equity—Canadian responses to achieve goals with consequences for all of humankind. 

As early as the nineteenth century, a connection has been made with CO2 (carbon dioxide) and the warming of the earth’satmosphere. It came to the fore again in the twentieth century, but alas, humankind failed to take it seriously enough to do anything about it. 

It wasn’t until 1988, at the International Conference on the Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security, held in Toronto that the Canadian federal government and the governments of other countries started to make promises to reduce GHG emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has, in thousands of pages, warned the nations of the tragic consequences of ongoing climate change/crisis, which will only worsen if significant action is not taken. However, the agreements, including the one in Paris in 2015 have not been binding. Nations have set goals to reduce GHG emissions by 2030 and 2050. Scientists predict that surpassing a 1.5 degree C warming threshold by 2030, and a 2 degree C threshold by 2050 will likely be catastrophic. So far, Canada and other nations have drastically failed to reach these goals, and most likely will not reach them for a variety of reasons. For example, the oil and gas industry is still funded with billions of dollars, and China is still building coal plants. The developed nations are not spending enough money to fund alternative, environmentally-friendly energy sources in the developing countries. Far too many people doubt the research of climate scientists and live in denial of climate change/crisis. The federal and provincial governments lack the political will to act significantly to reduce CO2 and other GHG emissions. 

This volume is informative, challenging and depressing. Hope for the future is required to motivate citizens, governments and industry to move more quickly to reduce GHG emissions. We need more than analysis, facts and figures, treaties and agreements. Therefore the author could have concluded this volume with a couple of chapters on contributions of First Nations and environmental organisations, and how citizens can connect with them to advocate and work for change and make a difference. Specific stories of what First Nations and environmental organisations are doing and have accomplished would inspire hope for the future. 

Book Review: Jewish biblical exegesis

Jewish biblical exegesis

Author: Louis Jacobs

Publisher: Behrman House, Inc., hardcover, 196 pages, including Introduction

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author

Louis Jacobs (17 July 1920 – 1 July 2006), was the Rabbi of New London Synagogue, in the United Kingdom, an author of several books, and a leading Jewish theologian. Rabbi Dr Jacobs’ books are on all aspects of Judaism, everything from mainstream theology, to mysticism, to Chassidism, to the Talmud. Jewish biblical exegesis is volume four of a seven volume “The Chain Of Tradition Series.”

Contents

The volume includes an Introduction, and 19 chapters. The chapters highlight excerpts from significant scholars and rabbis of the 11^th century through to the 20^th century. 

Brief Observations

Rabbi Dr Jacobs explains two terms Rabbis employ regarding Scripture and interpretation—Midrash or Derash, which means “to inquire,” and Peshat, which means “plain meaning.” Midrash or Derash involves reading something into a text, and can be creatively far-fetched. Commentators who favoured Peshat are referred to as Pashtanim. Commentators who favoured Derash are referred to as Darshanim. In some instances however, commentators may have employed both methods. Rabbi Dr Jacobs provides brief biographical notes and explanations for each of the commentators.

Here are four Rabbinic examples of how they interpreted Scripture.

Rabbi Dr Jacobs provides this introductory comment on one of the most familiar scholars: “Moses ben Nahman (Nahmanides) was born in Gerona, Spain in 1195 and died at Acre in Palestine around the year 1270. He is known as Ramban, after the initial letters of his name (Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman). Nahmanides’ Commentary to the Pentateuch...was also the first...to use the teachings of the Kabbalah” (p. 46). 

Nahmanides provides this answer to the question: What is the image of God? “The word “image” means “form”....And the word “likeness” means a resemblance in character and deed since of things close to one another in idea it can be said that they resemble one another” (p. 47). 

Rabbi Dr Jacobs explains Nahmanides’ comment on the command to be holy in Leviticus 19:2 and 11:44 as follows: “over and above the detailed rules and regulations there is a general command to be holy, that is, for Nahmanides, to keep oneself apart from too much indulgence even in permitted things” (p. 59). One example Nahmanides refers to is moderation in drinking wine: “He (or she) should sanctify himself (herself) in the matter of wine, only drinking a little....” (p. 58). 

“Rabbi Jacob ben Asher (died in Toledo, Spain, before 1340) was the author of a great and authoritative Code of Jewish law...known as the Tur (“Row”), but more specifically as the Turim....” (p. 100). 

“There is a Midrash which says that the reason the Torah begins with the letter bet and not with the letter alef is that bet stands for berachah (“blessing”), whereas alef stands for arirah (“curse”)” (p. 101). 

“The numerical value of bereshit bara (“In the beginning He created,” the first two words of the Pentateuch) is the same as that of be-rosh ha-shana nivra (“On Rosh Ha-Shanah it was created”)” (p. 103).

Hayim ben Moses ibn Attar was born in Morocco in 1696, and died in Jerusalem in 1743. In his answer to the question: Why should one help the poor? He states: “Whoever gives alms to the poor (person) and supports (them), thereby causes that poor (person’s) quarrel with Heaven to cease” (p. 164). Rabbi Dr Jacobs, commenting on this, suggests that: “It is sometimes claimed that religion, by turning (people’s) minds away from the sufferings of this world, fails to encourage (people) to alleviate that suffering” (p. 164). Hence, in this sense, religion contributes to the injustices in the world.

Rabbi Baruch Epstein was born in 1860, and murdered by the Nazis in 1942. He cites several Rabbinic interpretations of Leviticus 19:14: “Thou shalt not...put a stumbling-block before the blind....” For example, the verse may refer to: the blind as one who is in the dark on a particular matter; or not giving a cup of wine to a blind Nazirite; or a hint of the necessity of marking graves; or not striking a grown-up son, who might retaliate and strike their parent and thereby violate the fifth commandment; or a prohibition of selling wood/trees to fire-worshippers; or a prohibition to lenders and borrowers of money regarding interest; or a prohibition to lend money without witnesses—to list some of the Rabbinic interpretations. Rabbi Epstein suggests that the verse could refer to both a figurative and a literal-physical stumbling-block and blindness. 

Reading this volume reminded me of the Rabbinic view of Shiv’im Panim La-Torah –each verse of Torah has 70 different faces/i.e., interpretations. Those who are interested in learning more about the wide range of Rabbinic interpretations will likely appreciate this volume. 

Book Review: The Power of Story

The Power of Story: On Truth, the Trickster, and New Fictions for a New Era

Author: Harold R. Johnson, and Forward by Tracey Lindberg

Publisher: BIBLIOASIS, paperback, 187 pages, including Forward, Prologue, and The Power of Story

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author(s) 

Harold R. Johnson (1954-2022) was something of a Renaissance man. He was the author of six works of fiction and six works of nonfiction, including Firewater: How Alcohol is Killing My People (and Yours), which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction. Born and raised in northern Saskatchewan to a Swedish father and a Cree mother, Johnson served in the Canadian Navy and worked as a miner, logger, mechanic, trapper, fisherman, tree planter, and heavy-equipment operator. He graduated from Harvard Law School and managed a private practice for several years before becoming a Crown prosecutor. He was a member of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation. In The Power of Story Johnson shares some of his knowledge, wisdom, and experiences he gained from the wide array of his occupations. 

Tracey Lindberg is a writer, scholar, lawyer and Indigenous Rights activist from the Kelly Lake Cree Nation in British Columbia, and friend of Harold Johnson. 

Forward

In her forward, Tracey Lindberg speaks of an important occasion when she and Harold Johnson were both living in Saskatoon, and they both gave a reading of their work at the Broadway Theatre. Seeing him as a fiction writer left a surprising impression upon Lindberg.

Lindberg states that Johnson has been described as a “genre-bending (Clifford), border-crossing (Bjorkan Sagas) and a creative philosopher (Cry Wolf)...(p. 14).” 

Lindberg points out that one of the most significant emphasis of Johnson’s life and work was: “we are the stories we tell and we become the stories we tell ourselves (p. 15).”

Prologue and The Power of Story 

In the Prologue, Johnson briefly describes the context and background of this volume, which was his last—having written the last edited version only a couple of weeks before his death. The Saskatchewan ecumenical society made arrangements to visit Johnson, and there were 12 of the ecumenical society’s members who arrived in 2 boats, where he lived in northern Saskatchewan. He then welcomed them, and proceeded to tell them his stories, which are contained in this volume. 

Johnson begins “The Power of Story portion of the book by acknowledging the land he was living on, including everything: trees, water, birds animals, and so on. He then speaks a little about how his family were unjustly displaced to the land. “This land we are on is where my grandfather settled after being evicted from the territory that became Prince Albert National Park. My mother was only twelve years old when the RCMP went there and told all the Indians they had to leave (p. 16).”

The volume is mainly a collection of story after story. Although he is a master storyteller, Johnson has an interesting—albeit for some, perhaps controversial or incorrect—take on stories. Rather than tell one or more of his stories in this review, I am going to provide readers with several thought-provoking quotations, which hopefully spark enough interest to either purchase this volume or borrow it from a library. 

According to Johnson: “Stories are not part of your culture. Your culture is story. Our being is story (p. 35).”

Stories can be revised, edited, changed over the years, therefore Johnson believes that stories are fiction rather than true. “None of the stories we tell ourselves are true (p. 36).” 

In speaking of his time at Harvard, Johnson states: “I went to Harvard because I wanted to prove that nobody gave me anything. That’s true. But I also went to Harvard because Harvard is a prestigious place and I wanted some of that prestige. Another reason I went to Harvard was to study. I wanted to know more (p. 39).”

Over against settler history and interpretation of Treaties, Johnson states: “All the rights that Canadians enjoy, all the privileges they have living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, are Treaty Rights. They have those rights by virtue of being related to Indigenous Peoples. When we adopted them as our relatives, as our cousins, our ancestors became their ancestors (p. 63).”

“Science is a story, but so, too, is its supposed antithesis—God (p. 72).”

“As Aboriginal people we have understood...that we are related to everything around us. It’s part of our spirituality. When I finish a prayer, I remember to say “kakithaw nawakomakanak,” which means, “all my relations” (p. 75).”

Many readers, I think, will be surprised by and disagree with Johnson’s view of justice. “Justice is a fiction. We created it. It’s not something tangible. You can’t touch it. You can’t taste it. It’s an idea. It’s a story made up. Justice doesn’t exist in nature (p. 82).” 

“Placebo and nocebo effects are not restricted to medicine and sugar pills. Every story we tell can heal or kill. You have to be very careful of the stories that you tell (p.89).”

“A single word can hurt or heal, and we have no way of knowing the result. We never know how our words will be taken (p. 92).” Johnson does not mention this in his book, however this reminds me of the Indigenous tradition that God speaks to us in the silence between the words, and God speaks to us between the drumbeats.

“Did you know that 95 percent of men and 97 percent of women in prison were sexually or physically abused when they were children. I learned this from an Edmonton police officer who is working on his doctorate (p. 96).” 

“As long as the rest of Canada and the world sees us as victims, if that’s the story they tell themselves about us, that’s the way we will be treated (p. 98).” Johnson makes an insightful case for recognition of the distinction between what we mean by victim and what we mean by being victimized. 

“We need stories of hope and possibility to nurture us. We need new heroes—environmental heroes, humanity heroes, and social development heroes (p. 100).”

“Your personal story is a sacred story. It has power. It can change the world (p. 107).”

Johnson’s mother made a good living trapping and fishing. Sadly, the government forced her to move to La Ronge and go on welfare or she would lose her children. However Johnson states: “I was fortunate. I was taken out to the trapline and taught how to live on the land (p. 129).”

“The greatest diminishment of our people came about from the attack on women (p. 148).”

An Indigenous woman told Johnson a story about how a sex worker’s life was changed because a woman walking by her stopped and gave her a hug. That’s all it took for her to stop being a sex worker, get clean, and now she’s helping others to get off the street. 

“A common difference between people who live well into their hundreds and people who don’t is that people who are cared about live longer. Sometimes it’s that simple (pp. 178-179).”

“We all need to be in a story that tells us that we are wanted, we are cared for, and that we belong (p. 180).” Now that’s Gospel/Good News! And to that I say, AMEN!