Reviews and Comments

Dan Keck

dankeck@bookrastinating.com

Joined 2 years, 8 months ago

In my filing system, three stars is a good book.

This link opens in a pop-up window

reviewed Bad Theology by Leah E. Robinson

Brief, compelling history and analysis of people doing bad things in Jesus's name

The author takes four historical cases—apartheid in South Africa, the American Puritans, the Ku Klux Klan, and Jonestown—and studies the perpetrators' religious motives. She demonstrates how each is a case of "bad" theology using a rubric of "good" vs. "bad" theology. This rubric is admittedly subjective, but is based on the work of several theologians and philosophers, and it sounded good to me.

In particular, the author stresses that "bad theology" does not mean "non-Christian" but rather that Christian theology can be applied by humans in bad ways.

The book is academic and at times a little over my head, but I enjoyed it and finished feeling more acquainted with the idea of practical theology, and how people can use this theology to help people but also seriously hurt people.

reviewed The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings (2))

J. R. R. Tolkien: The Two Towers (Paperback, 1982, Houghton Mifflin)

The Two Towers. Book Two in J.R.R. Tolkien's acclaimed trilogy, a masterpiece of high fantasy.

Better than I remembered

Content warning Spoiler