Do you remember doing book reports in elementary school? Teachers cleverly devised multiple project ideas to ensure that students were regularly reading books. Assignments included paragraph summaries on 3 X 5 cards, dioramas, posters, book jackets, and others you may recall. Book reading for the young student continues to be a high priority at the elementary level, but approaches have changed, which I will not get into here. Instead, I will report on two, make that three, books I read in 2023. They stand out for me in ways I’d like to share. I hope my synopses earn passing marks from you!
“Live Not By Lies” was the famed dissenter Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s clarion call to resist Soviet repression, especially of religion. Writer Rod Dreher borrowed Solzhenitsyn’s phrase to entitle a book he never intended to write. Live Not By Lies lays out a “soft totalitarianism” that is creeping, maybe steamrolling, into American culture. Dreher came to author the book when immigrants from communist countries approached him about the glaring similarities of events and policies in Western democracies to the oppression in communist countries that they had personally experienced.
The book uncovers the many ways that a liberal ‘creed’ is being forced onto American society. Warning that it could happen again, Dreher recounts dreadful stories of massive religious persecution in Soviet block nations. It is a sobering and very unsettling book to read, but the story is not limited to America’s current dangerous reality and the evil history of the recent past. Dreher shares the steadfastness of individuals, families and congregations who resisted communist aggression against their faith, and he explains how their means of resistance were effective. He suggests these are ways that would be successful again.
My other book report features the book The Thrill of Orthodoxy by Trevin Wax. I saw the book on a recommended list in 2022 and was captured by its title – a bit of an oxymoron? The author was a new name to me, but I liked his bio. ‘Orthodoxy’ sounded daunting, nonetheless I bought the book and determined to read it. I was pleasantly surprised: the book was quite readable and compelling! Wax’s thesis is that orthodoxy, the timeless doctrines of the Christian faith, is adventurous and exciting. Rather than being dull or static, the Christian faith has been and always will be solid, stable, exuberant, invigorating … and in other words, thrilling! Joy and energy permeated the explanations and examples of historic Christian orthodoxy.
For extra credit, let me tell you how the two books are complementary. The onslaught of a new totalitarianism determined to wipe out Judeo Christian beliefs is chilling, but the orthodox truths of God are firm and life-giving. Scripture is “for such a time as this,” not unlike the Jewess, Queen Esther’s, vital calling during an impending genocide (Esther 4 v 14). With confidence and fortitude, we hold on to our foundational beliefs knowing they, by the power of God and His Son Jesus, will withstand the confrontations that may lie ahead.
Indeed, the Bible is the third in my book review of 2023. Now my assignment is complete and posted by the January 31 due date! As this first month of 2024 draws to a close, evaluate the quality and quantity of your Bible reading: set some goals or make a plan for the year ahead, inasmuch as “Every word of God proves true” (Proverbs 30 v 5) and “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4 v 4).
If you subscribe to my blog via email, thank you. My posts are best viewed directly from A Writer’s Daughter.