This is a fine book, but it tries to be too many things. It spends its first half trying to give an overview of the development of Tendai Buddhism in This is a fine book, but it tries to be too many things. It spends its first half trying to give an overview of the development of Tendai Buddhism in Japan. Even the author admits that this part of the book is less engaging for those not already familiar with the topic. Since this is published by a Buddhist press, much of the terminology and many allusions are brushed over as necessarily familiar. At some point it becomes a wave of Capitalized Terms that don't stick long enough to sink in.
The second half is more engaging because it actually talks about the subject of the book. It seems to shift its focus, not sure if it's purely descriptive, biographical, or devotional. Central figures are alluded to before they're introduced, strangely, in the final chapter. The descriptions of the practice are very interesting, though a non-Buddhist reader will be struck by how the author takes every unprovable miraculous anecdote at face value. This is as slim an introduction as you're going to get in book form, and there's lots of engaging description once you get to the meat of it, but don't feel too bad if you skim the rest. ...more
The primary upside of the volume for me was a dense selection of rhetoric used by Zen-affiliated speakers in the inter-war and WW2 era in Japan, most The primary upside of the volume for me was a dense selection of rhetoric used by Zen-affiliated speakers in the inter-war and WW2 era in Japan, most of which justified the imperial and militarist language of its day.
I think at times the density of quotation can do a disservice to the reader. Its intended effect, I believe, is to ensure that no one is let "off the hook." The primary effect, then, is one of internal accountability in Japanese Buddhist circles. For the reader not affiliated with these branches of Buddhism, however, there are fewer entry points. Many of the quotes and pro-government priests blend together. It sends its message mostly by reinforcement.
I did enjoy the longer character studies that Victoria was able to portray about how this language developed and how the government would validate it. I also enjoyed the chapters on anti-war Buddhism, though it's not his fault he had surprisingly little material to work with there. Oftentimes, though, it felt like he'd just read so much that chapters read like "Oh but wait, here's one more interesting thing!" without connecting it to a broader context or differentiating it from preceding sections.
And, man, the cover is so fascinating but we never even get a description of what's going on there. Maybe it wasn't actually relevant? But what a letdown. ...more
This is a weird one, but I'm glad it exists. These are some of the earliest Christian sermons, prepared about 150 years after Pentecost. What will be This is a weird one, but I'm glad it exists. These are some of the earliest Christian sermons, prepared about 150 years after Pentecost. What will be striking is how hard many of them are to read.
It's not that they're dense; it's that they're presented from a wholly different framework than one with which modern readers are familiar. Origen's purpose is to create Scriptural unity, to present its single message. But while a modern writer might try to show how the ideas or the phrases of a text speak to some common theme, Origen doesn't let you off that easily. For him, every word matters. As someone who was a native speaker of the language of the New Testament, the words were immediate and critical to him.
Where he couldn't find a "plain meaning" that fit into his expectations for a text, he did not hesitate to impose a mystical or symbolic reading on texts that might seem to be more pedestrian in nature. For him, no text is pedestrian; every word is equally critical. Sometimes this can lead to page after page of word comparisons and textual analysis, often running in circles or resorting to a mystic explanation that is anything but as clear as Origen makes is out to be.
A modern reader will say "Bro, chill," but Origen has zero chill. His intensity is intimidating because for him, everything was immediate. He was surrounded by angels and enemies on all sides. While he is a "narrow path" kind of guy, you can't say he doesn't have any fun. It's shocking how this doubly-translated text retains his good nature, his charm, and the force of his rhetoric. You may not buy into everything he's selling, but it's worthwhile to see where Christian oratory began....more
I honestly think this might be better read alongside Rousseau and the "state of nature" philosophers than as theology. It's mostly interesting to me aI honestly think this might be better read alongside Rousseau and the "state of nature" philosophers than as theology. It's mostly interesting to me as a concept of educational process and theory on development outside of political institutions.
For the theological elements, it just feels like Hayy just happens by some wild coincidence to come to all the same conclusions that the audience should hold about their existing religious system (except they should do it even better because society bad, meditation good). I'm not complaining about a lack of depth or anything because the construction of the pattern is interesting enough, but it feels so much like the conclusion is decided that once he begins examining religious philosophy it loses steam for me. We know where we're going, such that when he learns human language it takes all of half a paragraph. It's like a divine philosophy speedrun. ...more
A concise and evergreen treatment of how Jesus' life is most applicable to the realities of human experience and how he has been intentionally misconsA concise and evergreen treatment of how Jesus' life is most applicable to the realities of human experience and how he has been intentionally misconstrued to avoid seeing why he did what he did. This is a Jesus that is focused on living a new life in this life, not merely hoping for one in the hereafter. What does Jesus say to those with their "backs against the wall"? And for those of us in less dire circumstances, how are we also prone to the same hatreds and deceptions that allow us to cheapen the life that Jesus exemplifies?
Jesus was a person. Things he did were written down. Do they matter? That's what this book is asking, and regardless of your religious convictions or disinclinations, there's something noteworthy about this lens through which to view one of history's most influential teachers. ...more
I'm not sure whether it's better to read along with Wikipedia and Google Translate at your fingertips or if you should just feel the author's half-jusI'm not sure whether it's better to read along with Wikipedia and Google Translate at your fingertips or if you should just feel the author's half-justified allusions. Because if it's nothing else, it's a vibe.
What you don't get in these flitting travelogues is what it was like; you get what it felt like. What's it feel like to be dislocated in the foreign-feeling setting of a meditative monastery, so seemingly lost in time? What's it feel like to be surrounded by that sickening silence that makes you alone, then not alone? And how did these places get here?
The journey is brief and the history is going to raise more questions, perhaps, than it will provide the full scope of answers. But this is a journey you'll likely enjoy. And if it doesn't make you want to be a monastic for at least a hot second, I'll be surprised. ...more
This is a public text about a secretive cult. Or a very open and public religion. It depends who you ask.
And I’m not saying that with a wink and nod.This is a public text about a secretive cult. Or a very open and public religion. It depends who you ask.
And I’m not saying that with a wink and nod. If the book does anything it clarifies just how thin, circumstantial, and political the line between cult and religion really is.
It also sets the record straight on many pieces of propaganda and misinformation about the group that dominate its public perception. The settling of these scores is necessary for the author who wants, among other things, to justify the refugee status of group members fleeing persecution. But for a wildly ignorant reader like myself it went perhaps deeper than I needed.
The author also makes the interesting choice of not starting with a description of what the group is but with firsthand accounts of members being tortured and sometimes killed by the Chinese government for their beliefs. It implies perhaps that the reader should focus on this as a human rights emergency instead of gawking at their obtuse theology first and foremost. But it can be hard to get your bearings as a reader when it feels like you’re starting with the end of the story in some sense.
This is definitely a high 4, and it’s good to have scholarly work out there on groups like this. It’s relatively short so if the group or the description strikes your fancy, you’ll likely be glad to have read it, as I was....more
I'd been putting off reading this one. I was raised in an evangelical environment, and I even attended the evangelical Wheaton College that gets so frI'd been putting off reading this one. I was raised in an evangelical environment, and I even attended the evangelical Wheaton College that gets so frequently name-dropped in this text. I felt both like I knew it all already, and that I was afraid to look too close.
In one sense I was right. So many of these names and movements were familiar. Even more, the concepts, the fears, and the justifications were familiar. Attending Wheaton inspired me, in many ways, to stop describing myself as evangelical, and this book does a good job of naming many of the issues that I resented about the movement on an instinctive, non-specific level.
The text also made me grateful that I happened to find myself in a relatively "moderate" wing of the movement from childhood. No one was decrying evolution. Our church approved of female pastors (at least in theory, if not in practice). There was a focus on intellectual engagement with Scripture instead of knee-jerk conservatism and fear.
And yet.
The book helped me recognize that militant patriarchalism had its foothold nonetheless. When I was in high school, I found it odd that female study groups were encouraged to read about the merits of courtship and the evils of dating, while the same messages were never presented to male students. Instead, we were just told, effectively, to try real hard not to think about sex. The church seemed to value the active life and particularly celebrate male physical achievement. I often felt like an outsider in these events, so I would simply not participate. The church also celebrated the invariable goodness of military service. The book made me wonder, in retrospect, whether my failure to achieve the kinds of physical markings of success in the church culture of high school inspired me to join the military. Was I latching on to something that could affirm the validity of my church-approved masculinity when my penchant for reading and theater did not?
Despite the tone of my review so far, this book isn't about me. It's intensely readable because you feel like you're watching a train wreck where the only theme is fear, resentment, defensiveness, and anger. Evangelicalism depends on enemies in order to justify itself, and the book does a good job of spelling that out. What are "they" going to do to "us"? That's the perpetual question, and it's part of what forces so many people to leave these churches, and church entirely, behind. It assumes that it has all the answers already, and the only role of the church is to affirm its rightness and defend against the many heresies and temptations along the road. There's a fear of questions that rang true.
If I hesitate at all in my assessment, it's because the reader may feel themselves to be drinking out of a fire hose. Few chapters are more than 20 pages long. While there are connecting themes throughout, it feels sometimes like so many stories are being told in such quick succession that they're not all being told clearly or fully. The amount of quoted material across decades reiterating the same themes in believable, but I think I wish it were another two hundred pages longer in order to take time to show the narrative arcs of the many featured characters more fully.
I don't know how I would read this text if I still saw myself as part of the evangelical movement. Despite my gestures toward disaffiliation with that side of the church, I know that the inclinations and thought patterns of my first twenty years will always be a part of me. I appreciated this book for adding dates, names, and quotes to reinforce some feelings I could not name from that time. I don't know that it makes me want to read more, as much of the book was painful by nature, but I am glad that I did this much. ...more
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