Quiverfull by Kathryn Joyce

Read: 10 August, 2009

Joyce examines not so much the Quiverfull movement as she does the Christian Patriarchy movement - Quiverfull, of course, being one component of it. The Patriarchy movement centres around the belief that feminism has caused a number of social ills that can be remedied only by having women leave the workforce and return home to be submissive wives and mothers. Quiverfull is the added belief that all attempts to limit the number of children a family has is an insult to God (the most famous practitioners being the Duggar family with their eighteen - and counting - children).

Joyce's analysis is mostly uncritical, her own feelings only rarely show through and, then, introduced explicitly as her own views. Her style is to simply narrate with few adjectives the views of her subjects and allowing them to speak for themselves.

Despite her fairness, Joyce's writing style leaves something to be desired. Her sentences are so long and cover so many different ideas at once that I frequently found myself having to go back and read again. This interrupted the flow of my reading and, therefore, diminished the power of Joyce's writing. The organization of the book seems to be haphazard with ideas coming at the reader from every direction. If any transitions are present, they are surely feeling very lonely.

Stylistic elements aside, this was a fabulous book filled with information on a movement that has, for the most part, remained outside the mainstream West's awareness. I highly recommend it for all readers interested in religion and what is happening under the surface in Christian extremism.

No god but God by Reza Aslan

This is quite a long review. If you want just the final verdict, it is this: An interesting book with some good qualities overshadowed by a persistent lack of authorial honesty.

Read: 31 July, 2009

I don't want this review to be about whether or not I agree with Aslan. For one thing, I simply do not know enough about the subject to do this well. Secondly, whether a book is good or not does not depend on whether the reader agrees with its conclusions; my own feelings on the matter are therefore irrelevant. Having resolved myself in this way, I will be restricting this review to an internal critique only.

Overall, Aslan didn't fare too poorly. His tone is largely reasonable throughout and, if read without close attention to detail, I could see this being a fairly persuasive book.

However, the details are important and, as we shall see, they are where Aslan keeps his devils. I was dismayed to see the number of rhetorical fallacies used throughout the book. Giving the benefit of doubt, I choose to assume that many simply result in Aslan's inability to reconcile his beliefs with some of the evidence he has found. He has likely tricked himself into blindness with regards to the evidence's significance (something that those of us without a vested interest in the topic are not so much in danger of).

This manifests itself most when he attempts to justify the actions of Muhammad. Perhaps the most grievous illustration comes in Aslan's discussion of Muhammad raiding caravans: "In pre-Islamic Arabia, caravan raiding was a legitimate means for small clans to benefit from the wealth of larger ones. It was in no way considered stealing..." This is followed, one paragraph later, with: Muhammad's followers "effectively disrupted the trade flowing in and out of Mecca. It wasn't long before caravans entering the sacred city began complaining to the Quraysh that they no longer felt safe travelling through the region" (p. 82-3).

A few pages later, we read that Islam teaches peace and that only defensive fighting is permissible. Aslan then goes on to say that: "It is true that some verses in the Quran instruct Muhammad and his followers to 'slay the polytheists wherever you confront them' (9:5); to 'carry the struggle to the hypocrites who deny the faith' (9:73); and, especially, to 'fight those who do not believe in God and the Last Day' (9:29). However, it must be understood that these verses were directed specifically at the Quraysh and their clandestine partisans in Yathrib" (p. 84). These "clandestine partisans" being the people that Muhammad suspected "at once" of treachery, though there were "many possibilities" (p. 89). In other words, Islam is a religion of peace, unless you suspect someone on circumstantial evidence of being in cohoots with guys its okay to attack because Muhammad just really doesn't like them. That Aslan, a seemingly intelligent and thoughtful individual, should fail to see the obvious issues in his arguments is astounding.

Aslan expends much ink talking about how Islam never forces conversion or treats non-Muslims unfairly, and yet an equal amount of ink appears to contradict this. Whether he talks about all the groups who rebel and refuse to pay the religious tax as soon as Muhammad dies (p. 110), or the public conversion of Muhammad's old enemy, Hind, who "remained proudly defiant, barely masking her disgust with Muhammad and his 'provincial' faith" (p. 106). He even mentions the "protection tax," or jizyah, forced onto all non-Muslims living in Muslim-controlled areas as though this were a perfectly acceptable way to treat human beings (p. 94).

So far, I have listed only examples that could legitimately stem from the author's lack of thoughtful consideration. I expect better, but at least it is a forgiveable offence. If this were the end of it, No god but God might still have received a positive review from me. Unfortunately, some of Aslan's word choices seem to indicate a more deliberate intent.

Sometimes, it is a problem of omission: "[F]rom the earliest days of the Islamic expansion to the bloody wars and inquisition of the Crusades to the tragic consequences of colonialism..." (p. xvi). Things the Christian West has done are "bloody" and "tragic" while things the Muslim East has done receive no adjectives at all? As is common in discussions of the tension between the East and West, there is no mention of the Battle of Tours. I have yet to figure out if this is simply obscure history that no scholar of Christian/Muslim issues has ever heard about, or if there is something more sinister in it's lack of mention.

Sometimes Aslan chooses positive words to describe acts that clearly couldn't have been all that positive. For example, he writes that Jews were expelled "peacefully" from a Muslim community, and then that: "only slightly more than one percent of Medina's Jewish population" were killed during this expulsion. Perhaps our definitions of "peaceful" differ.

And there there are his translations. Having no Arabic of my own, it is difficult for me to comment in any depth, but when I read a translation of a seventh century text that uses words like "atom" (p. 213), my anachronism flag is raised. If Aslan can so deliberately falsify his source text to add to its legitimacy, what other dishonesty might he have committed? His entire interpretation of the situation in Islam, both past and present, is called in question.

One of the grossest and most reprehensible examples appears in his (brief) discussion of the veil. As the only voice for the idea that the veil is a sexist tradition, Aslan refers to Alfred, Lord Cromer. Rather than dismissing his arguments (which is given so little page room that I can only assume they are inadequately presented), he writes: "Never mind that Cromer was the founder of the Men's League for Opposing Women's Suffrage in England" (p. 73). As though this one man and his personal character embodied the whole of the argument against the veil. As though discrediting a century old British lord was a legitimate way to respond to an argument that has so many promoters - many of whom are female, many Muslim, and many both. This is such a dishonest tactic that it even has its own name - the ad hominem fallacy.

I could go on. I filled many pages of notes during my reading, but this was never intended to be a page-by-page commentary.

This is an interesting book of apologetics from a more 'moderate' Muslim and it brings up qutie a few interesting ideas and arguments. The problem, however, is Aslan's inability to rationally consider and counter any opinions that he does not share. Reading this, I got the distinct impression that anyone who disagrees with him is quickly labelled as a Sunni tyrant/terrorist or a Western neo-colonialist. Aslan shows himself in numerous examples to be dishonest and, to make the identification of his lies and half-truths all the more difficult for the reader, he hides them behind a perfectly reasonable writing style.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Islam, or to Muslims wanting to learn about different perspectives. However, reader beware: read with several grains of salt handy.

50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God by Guy P. Harrison

Read: 21 May, 2009

Harrison goes through all the usual arguments against belief in gods, repackaging them in a new format. Similar to 'Question and Answer,' he uses a 'Reason for Belief and Response' format. Each chapter begins with a single sentence reason, a few quotes that either explain the reason or debunk it, followed by a 2-5 page summary of the arguments against that reason.

Unfortunately, 50 is a very attractive round number and makes for a standard book length. I have seen all these reasons whittled down to only three essential arguments. The result is that many of the reasons are essentially the same with different wording. While I think that it was a good idea not to get into the specifics of one religion or another, this left Harrison with fairly little to say. His entire argument could be summarized as "there are millions of gods to choose from, so how do you know which one is real?" Imagine this, repeated 50 times with only a little variation.

My greatest disappointment is that 50 Reasons lacks focus. I know that I often complain that books, those on Atheism in particular, try to fill too many roles at once. Maybe it's because there are so few books on Atheism on the market, or maybe it's just authorial ego - either way, many authors seem to set out with great ideas, great arguments, and great potential only to fumble because they are trying to catch two rabbits at the same time.

For example, Harrison can't seem to decide who is target audience is. He will sometimes address believers directly, asking them to consider this or that point. At these times, his writing style is soothing and inviting. At other times, he addresses non-believers, as thought this were a "response to every situation" style manual. These passages are interesting, but could easily be interpreted by believers as offensive or condescending. Had Harrison settled on either of these audiences, I am confident that the book would have been greatly improved.

Another symptom of this lack of focus is a lack of efficiency in Harrison's writing. A chapter called "people have gone to heaven and returned" begins with a two-page description of Harrison's travels in which he finds two rotting bodies and stumbles onto a funeral. All this before the afterlife is even mentioned. This happens throughout the book to varying degrees. These passages are very interesting and I would love to read Harrison's travel narrative, should he ever write one, but they simply do not contribute to his arguments.

And finally, I often found myself reading from a believer's perspective and thinking "well, okay, but..." To be fair, Harrison covered far more objections than he missed, but it was enough for me to decide against recommending this book to believers.

I know that this review has been harsh, but only because 50 Reasons was a very good book with a lot of potential. Harrison's writing style is very accessible and he has a non-aggressive way of phrasing his arguments. I sincerely hope that 50 Reasons receives a second edition that addresses my concerns, or at least that Harrison learns from his mistakes and publishes a better book in future.

In the meantime, 50 Reasons is certainly an interesting and worthwhile read. If you've spent much time reading Atheist books or speaking with Atheists, most of this book's arguments will be familiar. But I found Harrison's focus on the 'Many Gods Problem' offers a fairly fresh perspective.

Discworld #12: Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

Read: 26 April, 2009

A beautiful young servant girl is destined to marry a handsome prince, thanks to her fairy godmother. The ball has been arranged, the gown made, and everything prepared so that Ella can meet her prince charming and live happily ever after.

But there's a catch. Three witches have come to put a stop to this fairy tale and make sure that Ella never marries the prince. Ella couldn't be happier!

Terry Pratchett's twelfth Discworld novel returns to Bad Ass and to the adventures of Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat.

There isn't much to be said about this novel that can't be said for pretty much any of the other Discworld books. As usually, Pratchett his hilariously funny. I love Granny and Nanny and how they play off each other. The inversion of the classic fairy tale is quite clever as well.

But this isn't just about fairy tales. A large portion of the novel could better be called a mock-travel narrative, which was very interesting.

Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham

Read: 6 May, 2009

There was a tall pile of them on the sale table, just $4.99 each. I'd never heard of the title, or the author of that matter, but I had my allowance in hand. This was why I had come - to experiment, to sample the books no one else had wanted. $4.99 is nothing, really, especially for a hardcover. So I grabbed a pile of books, anything that looks interesting. I blew my entire allowance. It doesn't really matter. If just one or two of these books turn out to be gems, they will have enough value for the entire pile.

I'm not sure why I picked this one. I don't think I even bothered to read the jacket. The cover is interesting and it says "by the author of The Hours." Hadn't I heard that title before? I was sure it was a movie I had seen, maybe even liked.

I've been chewing my way through the pile of books I've bought in that way, but months went by before I got to this one. In the meantime, the bookstore marked it down to $2, and then only $1. The pile, sans my copy, never seemed to get any smaller. For whatever reason, this is a novel that has failed to catch the public's eye.

But I like the cover. I like the dandelion parachute ball, green and glowing. I would see it on my shelf and try to imagine what the story could be about. With a name like Specimen Days, it could be just about anything. Horror, maybe? I think I confused The Hours with The Others.

I had just finished Witches Abroad. Discworld novels are safe; I know what to expect when I crack the spine onto the first page. I was ready for something different, unexpected, adventurous.

So I picked the glowing green dandelion parachute ball with the black background. Why not?

Specimen Days is not a novel, no matter what the cover says. Specimen Days is a meditation, a thought experiment. It glides through experiences like a breeze, offering no explanations and no resolutions. To call itself a novel, it experiences the world through three characters: the child, the woman, and the man. Each of these receives a chapter, an age, and a genre. The book is at once historical fiction, detective story, and science fiction. Somehow, the whole is held together by an experience of Walt Whitman. I won't try to explain - I can't. You'll just have to read it for yourself.

I'm not surprised that Specimen Days can now be purchased for only $1 on the book's sale table. It isn't bad, it's just so experimental, different, and genre-defying. It's an experience of beauty and thought that can be both marvellous and uncomfortable. It isn't a casual read.

That being said, it was a wonderful experience and I feel enriched for having been seduced by that glowing green parachute ball. Read it, give it a chance, and let yourself experience the touch of the literary numinous.

Bridei Chronicles #1: The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier

Read: 5 April, 2009

As a small child, Bridei was given to the powerful Priteni druid Broichan for his education. It soon becomes clear that Broichan has a destiny in mind for his young ward, a destiny that Bridei has no choice but to accept. But the moon goddess seems to have plans of her own as, one Midwinter's Eve, she sends him a very peculiar baby girl whom Broichan immediately perceives as a threat.

I'm finding it extremely difficult to write this review. The Dark Mirror is by no means a bad book, nor is it a good one. I can think of nothing that Marillier did wrong, yet I can think of nothing that she did very well. This is the epitome of average (though, to be fair, my standards can be very harsh). I can only think to say that the novel seemed very slow-paced, but I can think of no scene that could have been cut. The fat is far too well spread.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel, but I can think of very little that was memorable. In that sense, I will recommend it as filler, something to read on a rainy afternoon. This is a book that can be put down without much of a struggle when the phone rings.

Icarus at the Edge of Time by Brian Greene

Read: 8 April, 2009

Icarus is the classic story of the boy who flew too high for his own good. The twist here is that the titular hero lives in the future, grew up on a space ship, and flies into a black hole rather than the sun. Icarus is also a rather large board book, illustrated with beautiful images taken by the Hubble space telescope.

POSITIVE: Icarus offers an interesting blend of classical mythology and modern science. It's a great introduction to black holes and the relativity of time. Finally, the stunning images can only feed a young mind's interest in science.

NEGATIVE: I don't know what Icarus was trying to be. Board books are normally associated with younger children, but the diction seems too advanced. I'm all for books that challenge kids, but I think that this would only serve to frustrate. The book is also far too large to be comfortably read to a young audience that wants to see the pictures too. If, on the other hand, Icarus was intended for a slightly older set, I think that kids would find the story too simplistic.

Another major flaw was the choice in representation of the black hole. This is shown as a black dot (literally a 'black hole' in the middle of the page) that progressively takes over the entire page and then shrinks back down. I can understand an appreciate that this is supposed to allow the reader to "approach" the black hole as Icarus does, but it's just plain black and it obscures the beautiful background images (almost completely for several of the middle pages). It's both distracting and frustrating.

The greatest flaw this book has is its apparent lack of direction. Perhaps the author wanted it to be too many things at once. Who can blame him? The niche for storybooks that also teach science is severely under-filled - but one book alone cannot hope to fill all of it. The result is literary schizophrenia.

This, coupled with the unfortunate design choice, makes this book somewhat of a disappointment. It's still worth getting, though, if only because of how sparse the genre is.