Colors And Glory By Jeffery Overstreet

“Auralia’s Colors” is the first in what will hopefully be a series of works from Overstreet called “The Auralia Thread”. The story takes place in the Expanse, a land of fantasy which, we are told, is ruled by four houses. As the story moves forward, we find that the forces changing The Expanse for good and evil are much more complicated.

This first novel takes place in House Abascar, a land in the northwest forests of the Expanse. Tragedy and greed rule there in the subtle form of a Proclamation decreeing that all colors and treasures in the land be gathered to adorn the castle, so that it might compete in glory with the riches of neighboring lands. Enter Auralia, a stubborn Jane-The-Baptist who is guided by different, but nonetheless mysterious forces. Tension mounts as Auralia becomes a hero of the forced labor camps, who receive not only strange and wonderful gifts, but also acceptance and love from her hands and heart.

Early on in the story, the reader becomes aware of distinctly Christian overtones in the tale, most obviously in the form of the Keeper, whom the children all dream of and the adults almost all deny. This, however, should not keep Auralia’s Colors from broad interest, as Overstreet skillfully and responsibly engages with questions of philosophy and ethics that are universal to rational inquiry.

House Abascar’s quandaries are epistemological and ethical: Are the universal dreams of children to be trusted more than the empirical observations of the old and hardened? Does the learner choose only the evidence that will re-enforce his worldview, and suppress the evidence which does not? Under what conditions should law-breakers be allowed to re-enter society? How can they prove their merit? These questions occupy not just the mind-space of Christianity, but of humanity in general.

Auralia’s Colors is exciting and dangerous, packed with betrayal, transformation, and discovery. As each wonderfully realized character is confronted by a paradigm shaking “other”, their actions and reactions are revelatory, causing a glorious picture to emerge from the devastation that ensues. By the time the story has reached its tremendous climax, many a reader will be filled with awe at the beauty, power, and creativity of one who could weave with such skill and perfection.

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities of Our Time

Reviewed by Pastor Mike Gunn

I would like to preface this article by saying how excited I was to hear that Jeffrey Sachs, the famed economist, had published a book with the title after which this article is named. I first heard about the book in a Time magazine article entitled, “The End of Poverty,” that I read on a flight home from India in 2005. The article stated that Sachs believed extreme poverty* could be eliminated by the year 2025. That’s in our lifetime.


This issue is dear to my heart and I firmly believe that the evangelical is amiss to exclude our responsibility in caring for the poor and marginalized. We are called to be God’s presence in this world, both with the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the living out of that gospel in suffering with those that are marginalized. Since this article doesn’t explore this theological reality, this sentiment will have to suffice. I believe that if the church put its energy into helping the world’s poor and marginalized--as it does to thwart gay marriages and teach intelligent design in the schools--we would see the world respond to the church, and ultimately to the gospel, in vastly different ways. Read More

Plaguemaker

Reviewed by Harambee Member Mike Smith

Four lives tragically intersect to stop a plot to exterminate 100 million people. The plot is the result of one man’s consuming passion; the other three are on an equally passionate mission to stop him. All four lives have been marred by personal tragedies—tragedies made more profound by the fact that they were beyond anyone’s power to prevent. The suffering and tremendous loss drives each of them to passionate action, to a life’s mission. All but one has not been able to come to terms with his own powerlessness; he realizes that God is the only one who can redeem the heartbreak. The eventual meeting of the four results in a locus of personal and mass destruction, reconciliation, and human triumph. Read More

Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul

Reviewed by Harambee Member Jennifer Zug

I liked this book by John and Stasi Eldredge, let me just state that from the beginning. So if you hated this book please don’t read any further, and PLEASE don’t send me any emails about how John Eldredge is the antichrist. If you were pleased with the book, or remain undecided, or if you haven’t even read it yet, then please, be my guest. Read on.

I begin with that disclaimer because so many reviewers of Eldredge’s latest book are appalled – ABHORRED, I tell ya – that Eldredge would dare to use quotes from movies, music, and secular authors to illustrate his various ideas. So offended are they, that they have ACTUALLY COUNTED the number of secular references Eldredge makes (which, by the way, they can’t even agree on. Some have it at 32 references, some have it at 35). Read More

Nausea

Reviewed by Pastor Mike Gunn

“I grasp at each second, trying to suck it dry. Nothing happens which I do not seize, which I do not fix forever in myself, nothing, neither the fugitive tenderness of those lovely eyes, nor the noises of the street, nor the false dawn of early morning: and even so the minute passes and I do not hold it back, I like to see it pass.” (Pg. 38)

And so goes Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nobel Prize winning book (1964) Nausea. Many consider this book Jean-Paul Sartre’s most important novel, and a “landmark in existential fiction.” Sartre is considered one of the most prolific French Existentialist writers of the 20th century. He was skilled as a philosopher, novelist, play-write and critic, ably bridging the gap between the academy and the “lay” person. Read More

Desire of the Everlasting Hills : The World Before and After Jesus

Reviewed by Pastor Mike Gunn

What begins with a bang ends in a whimper. “Everlasting Hills” is the third book (The first two being, “How The Irish Saved Civilization” and “The Gift of the Jews”) in a series called, “The Hinges of History,” Thomas Cahill’s sweep through western culture’s shaping moments. Cahill attempts to do what many have attempted before, ask the question “What effect, if any, has Jesus Christ’s life had on history?” particularly western history. Read More

What Would Jabez Do?

By Pastor Mike Gunn

The modern Christian market has seen a flood of Christian Kitsch, Jesus Junk, and badly ripped off slogans. After all, who would turn a time honored trademark like Budweiser into “Beweiser,” throw it on a shirt, and sell it to fundamentalists trying to be trendy. As insidious as this may seem, when the pat fads, and poor critical thinking strikes the literary world of theology, it is downright sickening. Well fresh in the wake of Christianity’s #1 best selling series “Left Behind,” we’ve hit a new low in the poor theology department, The Prayer of Jabez, Christianity’s newest best selling fad. Read More