The True Jesus--Uncovering the Divinity of Christ in the Gospels--by David Limbaugh

¹³ When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." ¹⁵ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. "                           -Matthew 16:13-16(NIV)

I had this book on my list for Page Turners for a while but I have forgotten why. When I announced it as a March selection, I got the feeling some folks were less than thrilled. Now I may know why...more later.

Limbaugh begins Part I with explanation of the intertestamental era, which I learned is the 400 or so years between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. That was a new word for me. Also in Part I he describes the Gospels as 4 perspectives but one message, Jesus Christ as the Son of the Living God, the promised Messiah. It was interesting to read his ideas on the backgrounds of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and how it affected their accounts. 

In Part II the author uses a format I haven't seen before. He tells the story of Jesus life as chronologically as he can, for example starting with Jesus' genealogies and birth in Matthew and Luke and moving to His baptism in all 4 Gospels and turning water to wine and cleansing the temple in John. It is probably something like a parallel version of the New Testament but with much commentary on the events. I must give Limbaugh credit for a great deal of research since he includes 72 pages of notes and citations. (I didn't read them!)

In my reading of The True Jesus  I learned some new things and was reminded of even more that hadn't crossed my mind in a while, especially the numerous OT prophecies of the coming of the Messiah.

This book was not a page-turner, far from it, but it was a very timely choice for me for a few reasons. First I was reading it during Lent and, of course, with its concentration on the Gospels, I was powerfully reminded of Jesus' last days and His supreme sacrifice. Second, since January 1, I have been reading The Bible in One Year with Nicky Gumbel on the Holy Bible application on my phone and so far, we have covered Matthew and Mark and are currently in Luke, so I could remember some of the scriptures vividly. Last, our pastors have been preaching on the Gospel of John during Lent so the stories of the temptation of Christ, the interaction with Nicodemus and the woman at the well were repeated with different perspectives.

I will rate The True Jesus a 3. It was very dense and not exactly entertaining but I am glad I read it. And it is good that I read it before knowing about the author who, it turns out, is Rush Limbaugh's younger brother and apparently just as rabid of a conservative political commentator and author, judging by the titles of other books he's written including two about Barack Obama, with very disparaging titles. ( I greatly admire the former president.) I should have suspected from his last name but when I saw a YouTube interview with Sean Hannity on FOX, the handwriting was on the wall! At least this book was not at all political. But I could guarantee you I won't look for another by this author!

Maybe a bit more to wrap up after our online meeting Thursday...
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Facebook Live Page Turners was broadcast as promised with varying levels of success. Several people viewed and most had not read the book and so had little to say. One of our members, a retired pastor, had this to say: I bought the book, Anne and read the intro.  The author describes a blending of the four gospel narratives to discover the true Jesus.  I was taught that that approach is more isogesis than exegesis,  that is reading into the text rather than critically interpreting what is in the text.  The four gospel writers wrote to different audiences to offer them the truth of faith in language they could understand.  They weren't offering a biography but rather a declaration of faith, a witness by each to his own experience of Jesus.  Many Christians approach Scripture as David Limbaugh does.   For personal devotional use, I can understand looking for the common threads to catch a glimpse of the man, Jesus, but it does tend toward trying to make the Bible say what we want rather than looking for what's there.
Food for thought, I would say.
Only a few members felt they had read enough to rate the book. The average of 4 ratings is 2.5.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance

"It would be years before I learned that no single book, or expert, or field could fully explain the problems of hillbillies in modern America. Our elegy is a sociological one, yes, but it is also about psychology and community and culture and faith."
                     -J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy

I had wanted to read Hillbilly Elegy for some time, since it was on the NYT best-seller list. The title intrigued me since I have often considered myself a hillbilly, having been born in East Tennessee. When I found I could check out 10 copies from our library, called a Book Bundle, I selected it for Page Turners.

I found Vance's memoir compelling. He describes his life among the working class in the Rust Belt town of Middletown, Ohio, but with family roots in Appalachia. A self-proclaimed hillbilly, Vance was able to survive a dysfunctional family, become a U.S. Marine, graduate from Ohio State and Yale School of Law. He gives his grandparents, Mamaw and Papaw, and his older sister, Lindsay, a great deal of credit for his eventual success in life.

Mamaw is a fascinating character, a force-to-be-reckoned-with, especially if someone crossed a family member. She added much humor to the story.

I thought Hillbilly Elegy might be comparable to Educated, also a memoir but that's probably where the likeness ends. Tara Westover had to become educated in spite of her upbringing while, at least, Vance was encouraged in his education by several family members.

Hillbilly Elegy is somewhat political and has been met with controversy as Vance discusses the problems of this [hillbilly] culture in crisis and what he sees as causes and suggested solutions.

I rate the book a 4. I thought it was well-written and educational. For one thing I learned I must not be a hillbilly; my life was surely nothing like he described!

I look forward to discussing the book at our meeting later this month. More after that....

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Nineteen members attended our February meeting---a larger group than in the past few months. The book's rating by the group was 3.5 with no 5's and no 1's. I believe everyone learned some things by reading Hillbilly Elegy and some had very personal reactions to the book's content. Our discussion was lively, and as I hinted, somewhat emotional. Some found the author a bit self-serving but most agreed it was likely the encouragement of family members that helped him rise above his hillbilly roots.

All in a Lifetime by Dr. Ruth Westheimer with Ben Yagoda

"There is a doll in Germany called a Stehaufmannchen. It has lead in its base, and when you put it down flat, it stands right back up again. That's me. Instead of being devastated by this failure, I went right on to the next project."
                 -Dr. Ruth, from the autobiography

I doubt I would have ever discovered and read this autobiography if I had not recently attended the delightful one-woman play "Becoming Dr. Ruth" by Mark St. Germain. My husband and I were lucky enough to have tickets for the talk-back show. After final bows the actress talked about her experience with the role and answered questions from the audience. It was revealed that Dr. Ruth had written (at least one) autobiography. I found this one at our library.

Dr. Ruth Westheimer was born Karola Siegel in Frankfort, Germany. In 1939 at the age of 10 she is sent by her parents on a train to Switzerland where she will be safe from Nazi oppression and threats. She never sees her family again. At the Swiss orphanage where she lived with other Jewish refugee children, she kept a journal and shares numerous entries in this book that reminded me somewhat of Anne Frank's diary. As a seventeen-year-old she emigrated to Israel for a time, where she changes her name, and by the time she arrives in the United States, she has lived in 5 countries. She dreams of becoming a kindergarten teacher as a young person so it is pretty surprising to me that she ends up as a college professor and famous sex therapist.

I am rating the book a 3.5. It might have been higher if I had not been so familiar with the story. Much of it was disclosed in the play. Also the sequence of events was a bit confusing at times. However, the warmth and humor of this remarkable woman comes through in both book and play. In "Becoming Dr. Ruth" the audience is treated as friends who have come to visit and the book is similar, in that she says a few times, "You know me well enough to know..."  An example of humor is that she shares that she is SO short (under 5 feet) when she goes to restaurants she asks for phone book(s) to sit on!

The title is fitting for the autobiography of a woman who packed so much more than most people into one lifetime! And she is still going strong at 91, best I can tell!

An Equal Justice by Chad Zunker

"You don't get your freedom when you finally make partner there---you officially terminate all rights to the rest of your life."
               -Thomas's warning to David, from the novel

An Equal Justice was a real page-turner---easy to read, short chapters and frequent foreshadowing. It reminded me of John Grisham's legal thrillers, in particular The Firm. I've enjoyed many of Grisham's novels and I really liked this one, too. It rates a 4 with me.

David Adams, a recent Stanford graduate has landed a coveted position in a high-end law firm in Austin, Texas. It's a dream-come-true for a young man who grew up in poverty but it's not long before a fellow associate is found dead---seemingly a suicide but with some mysterious circumstances.

In a twist of plot, David connects with a community of homeless men and when one of them is murdered, he wants to know who did it and why. He meets Jen Cantwell at a charity meal event and they find they share a compassion for these street people. Jen is a journalist and the two combine their skills to investigate the killing. It becomes more and more obvious to David that there is something sinister going on at the law firm of Hunter and Kellerman.

This novel was labelled David Adams #1. One of these days I will be looking for #2!

In a Field of Blue by Gemma Liviero

"In a field of wilted blue, she is the peace amid the madness, an extra weight in my pack that I would joyfully bear to where the world is bluer still."
                         -from Edgar's journal

This is another novel downloaded to my Kindle free from Amazon First Reads. It started out slowly but  piqued my interest much more in the second half. The setting is post-WWI and primarily England. The Watts family is still grieving eldest son Edgar, lost in the war and presumed dead, when a young French woman, Mariette, shows up at the estate. She claims to have been Edgar's wife and the mother of his son, whom she has brought to present to his family. The matriarch, Abigail, is doubtful and when middle brother Lawrence finds out, he is even more skeptical of the relationship, thinking Mariette a gold-digger. Younger brother Rudy believes the young woman and quickly becomes fond of her and the child. When she mysteriously disappears, Rudy sets out to find her AND the truth of what has happened to Edgar.

This novel certainly reminds the reader of the horrors of war and particularly the invisible injuries to military men. What we today call post-traumatic stress disorder was then known as shell shock or "Soldier's Heart." Sometimes the ones affected were even called "malingerers," otherwise known as fakers! I am so glad those with PTSD can receive treatment nowadays.

I am rating the book a 3. It took a while to get into. It was around chapter 19 when Mariette begins telling her story that I became more involved in the plot.

The Names of the Dead by Kevin Wignall

"It doesn't matter that you don't believe. There's still so much for you to find inside....Here is your guide. And here is your sword of truth. Be sure to look at both before you leave this prison, and God will help you find a way, Wes."
                   -Patrice, upon giving Wes his Bible

This book was a quick read after finally trudging through World Without End---only a few days as opposed to weeks. A spy novel of sorts, it was pretty much a page-turner.

Protagonist James "Wes" Wesley, has been imprisoned in France as a result of having been framed for a crime. He receives early release after being informed his ex-wife, Rachel Richards, has been killed in an apparent terrorist attack in Spain and her young son, Ethan, is missing. Wes is subsequently surprised to learn that Ethan is his child. Predictably Wes sets out to avenge Rachel's death and find Ethan but it becomes evident quickly that he is on the hit list of those who betrayed him originally. After escaping the first hired killers, Wes meets Mia Pavic, a young autistic Croatian woman who becomes his driver and, in more ways than one, his savior.

I found Mia to be a very likeable character, more so than the central Wes who is a bitter man with violent tendencies. Fortunately, Mia's religious faith and simple philosophy have something of a calming influence on Wes. It was unique that Bible scriptures were noted through the novel, the Bible having been given to Wes by fellow inmate Patrice. (see quote above)

Several  places where Mia and Wes found themselves were familiar to me, places I had visited recently---Malaga, Barcelona, Lisbon. Somehow that makes the story more personal.

I give a rating of 4 to The Names of the Dead.  I liked it enough to look for another by this author.

World Without End by Ken Follett

"Caris had to fight back her own grief. Her loss was nothing compared with theirs. She did not know why God so often took the best people and left the wicked alive to do more wrong. The whole idea of a benevolent deity watching over everyone seemed unbelievable at moments such as this."
                                        -from the novel

Wow! What an amazing story! Several years ago our group read Pillars of the Earth, the first in Follett's Kingsbridge series. It was well-liked, being rated 4.7. World Without End is a sequel set in the town of Kingsbridge, England in the 14th century, some 200 years after the original story. There are rare references to the building of the local cathedral from book one but this novel can be enjoyed in its own right.

At 1000+ pages, I hesitated to select it for the Page Turners but was influenced by a couple of factors: 1) I found a copy on my bookshelf which I'd forgotten about, 2) no meeting in December meant we had almost 2 months to read the novel, 3) polling the group showed some interest.

I thought I might give the book a 4 rating because it took me SO long to finish it---almost a month---very frustrating. However, I was fascinated by the story so I upgraded my rating to a 5.  I am not sure why Follett could not have published the saga in 2 or 3 novels instead of one tome! I learned it took 3 years to write.

Early in the novel, 4 preteens---brothers Merthin and Ralph and friends Caris and Gwenda---while galivanting in the woods come upon a frightening scene. A knight has buried a mysterious letter and is subsequently attacked by several men. The story then revolves around the four as they grown into adulthood---one becoming a gifted architect, another a depraved nobleman, another a nun with a gift of healing and the last a farm wife working her fingers to the bone. Of course, numerous secondary characters come and go, including many who succumb to the Black Death, or plague.

It has been a long time since I read a novel set in the Middle Ages and I was jolted once again by the cruelty of punishments and the terrible lack of regard for women. It may be a long time before I take on such a lengthy book again but I really enjoyed World Without End. It remains to be seen how the Page Turners will react. I already have heard from a few they did not read it. More after the meeting this week......
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We had a smaller number of folks at our meeting---only 12. People traveling, sick or simply did not want to read the book. Our average rating for World Without End was 3.8; it was liked by most but not really loved. Only one person other than me rated it a 5. It seemed we were all impressed with the amount of research done by the author but most were intimidated by 1000+ pages!

We could agree we learned a great deal about the 14th century, enough to be grateful we live NOW. Also we thought the women characters were strong and Ralph was the one we loved to hate. The discussion questions issued by the publisher, easily found on LitLovers.com, were very thought-provoking. "What does the book's title mean?" was especially appropriate. One member recalled Prior Godwyn saying, in a sermon, "...world without end, amen." Someone else thought the symbolism of the bridge and tower pointed to the lifting of Kingsbridge to a place of prominence in the world. As always the discussion was enlightening.