Category Archives: Book Reviews

In Defense Of Food 2 – The Western Diet and the Diseases of Civilization

By Scott | Published: March 31, 2010
The second section of Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, An Eater’s Manifesto, shifts from nutritionism to the factors involved in the development of what we tend to call the “Western Diet” and the impact of that diet on our overall health. In the section, Pollan explores some of the well-documented studies both of [...]
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In Defense Of Food 1 – The Age of Nutritionism

By Scott | Published: March 30, 2010
The first section of Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, An Eater’s Manifesto, explores the process by which we shifted from talking about foods to talking about nutrients. It’s an interesting history covering the last couple of hundred years. We have repeatedly thought we’ve unlocked the secrets of animal nutrition only to discover again [...]
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In Defense Of Food 0 – Introductory Thoughts

By Scott | Published: March 29, 2010
Last week I read Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, An Eater’s Manifesto. It’s quite well written and thoroughly sourced. He’s a journalist, not a scientist, but he is an academic as well and certainly able to document and defend his ideas. I plan to devote a post reviewing each of the three sections [...]
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For the Life of the World 39

By Scott | Published: February 19, 2010
This post focuses on sections 7-10 of Sacrament and Symbol, the second appendix of For the Life of the World. Section 7 focuses of the essay focuses on the way that causality and guarantees were built into the theology of sacraments and how they were thus transformed from intrinsic and revealing in their union with [...]
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For the Life of the World 38

By Scott | Published: February 17, 2010
This post focuses on sections 4-6 of Sacrament and Symbol, the second appendix of For the Life of the World. Fr. Schmemann more closely examines why the ancient Christian Fathers perceived symbol and reality so differently and it’s primarily a matter of “worldview” (to use an often overused word).  The world, created by God, is [...]
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For the Life of the World 37

By Scott | Published: February 16, 2010
This post focuses on sections 1-3 of Sacrament and Symbol, the second appendix of For the Life of the World. Fr. Schmemann notes at the start of this essay that much of Orthodox theology in recent centuries has been deeply swayed and influenced by the Western perspective that focused on the form and practice of [...]
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Evangelical Is Not Enough 10

By Scott | Published: February 15, 2010
The tenth and final chapter of Thomas Howard’s book, Envoi, stresses that all Christians engaged in this discussion are, or should be allies, and not enemies. While some embrace modern Christian divisions and pluralism (unfortunately including my own SBC denomination as illustrated in a recent issue of the SBTC Texan), most Christians recognize the wrongness [...]
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Evangelical Is Not Enough 9

By Scott | Published: February 13, 2010
Thomas Howard’s ninth chapter, The Liturgical Year: Redeeming the Time, focuses on the Western version of the Christian calendar. (I’ll note here that it’s different from the Eastern version.) I believe evangelicals struggle with this idea because they have some confused ideas about the nature of time from a Christian perspective. For instance, I hear [...]
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Evangelical Is Not Enough 8

By Scott | Published: February 12, 2010
The eighth chapter of Thomas Howard’s book is title, The Eucharistic Liturgy: Diagram and Drama. He opens the chapter with the idea that the drama of the liturgy unfolds a diagram of the gospel to the literate and illiterate alike. There is, of course, some aspect of that associated with liturgy, and for a while [...]
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For the Life of the World 36

By Scott | Published: February 11, 2010
This post focuses on sections 7-8 of Worship in a Secular Age, the first appendix of For the Life of the World. Fr. Schmemann begins to draw his essay toward conclusion by noting that we actually desire the divisions of reality that make space for a secular perspective. That’s why they’ve taken root in both [...]
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